Starting Anew
by Amanda Lily Potter
Summary: Bella moves to Forks to get away from a difficult situation where she lives with her mom, and while with her dad she meeets some new people who truly seem to care about her and look out for her ALL HUMAN, AU, B/E, R/Em, A/J and rated T
1. Chapter 1

_Starting Anew_

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing you recognize, that includes the characters or anything else, I just came up with the situation to place them in  
**A/N:** Okay okay, I know another new story and the others aren't finished, but I'm working on them I promise, this is just something that's been floating around in my head for a while and I had to write it down before it drove me crazy.  
**Summary:** Bella moves to Forks to get away from a difficult situation where she lives with her mom, and while with her dad she meeets some new people who truly seem to care about her and look out for her ALL HUMAN, AU, B/E, R/Em, A/J and rated T just to be on the safe side

**Chapter 1: New Places and Old Faces**

I sighed as I stared at my reflection in the airplane window which was made possible by the darkened sky outside, twirling a piece of my plain dark brown hair around my fingers I wasn't the most attractive 17 year old, I considered myself to be rather plain and so far no one's bothered to correct that assumption so I figured it had to be the truth. At the moment I was stuck in my thoughts as I had been for the whole flight.

Roughly two months earlier, my mother Renee began dating a man named Phil. At first, I thought he was going to be just another one of her phases, like yoga, but not even a month after they began dating, Phil moved in with my mother and I. at the beginning, even if I didn't like Phil, I thought I could live with the change, if only for my mother's happiness. Then Phil began getting more aggressive with me; pushing and slapping me around. Of course I tried talking to my mother about it, but of course she didn't believe me and, to make matters worse, told Phil.

Before that point, I never considered what happened to me to be abuse, but after my mom talked to Phil, he hit me worse than ever. I think that's the point where he crossed the line between discipline and abuse.

It continued for probably 2 weeks and I had no idea how to stop it, obviously telling my mom was out of the question, and I hated to bother my dad with my problems and make him feel guilty that he couldn't do anything to stop it. But soon I had no choice but to tell my dad when things got even worse, and for the first time since it all started, I truly began to feel afraid, and fear what was happening.

Phil had decided to take my mother out for dinner one night, and I was left at home. I had fallen asleep before they got home, and I woke up to the sound of my bedroom door being opened. Groggily I cracked my eyes open slightly, only to gasp in shock as I saw Phil slowly making his way towards where I was laying on the bed.

He was smiling at me with an eerie look in his eyes as he started to steadily come closer and closer yet I couldn't move, I was frozen in fear. He got on the bed and slowly started to crawl towards me. Reaching out Phil pulled my nightgown over my head as I just sat there and stared at him in shock. What was he doing? I didn't know, after all he had never done anything like this before.

He placed his hand over my chest and grinned as he squeezed my breast. A scream was stuck in my throat, refusing to let anyone know I needed help, and my limbs refused to move away from this man…this _monster_ that was in my bed. I heard my mom calling Phil a couple of rooms over, and Phil reluctantly pulled away from me and turned to leave.

Before he left the room, however, he whispered to me, _"We'll continue this later Isabella."_

Needless to say, my resolve not to get my father involved broke and, paying no attention to the time, I immediately picked up the phone and called him. I told him everything that happened over the past weeks and he right away told me to pack my things and go to the airport, he was already booking me on the next flight to Washington. I quickly threw a bunch of clothes in a knapsack and grabbed my wallet, cell phone and laptop before going downstairs. I wrote a note for my mom on the whiteboard on the fridge telling her that I had decided to give her and Phil some space and was moving to be with my dad before calling a cab.

Anxiously I waited on the front steps for a cab to pull up. The less time the cab was sitting outside, the less chance there was that Phil or my mom would catch me before I could leave. Finally though the cab did pull up to the curb, and it wasn't even fully stopped before I was climbing in and telling the driver to go to the airport, which he did after giving me a weird look. Not that I blamed him, after all I probably looked like a teenage runaway. After getting to the airport I went to the information desk and they immediately directed me to the flight that would conveniently be leaving in an hour.

And so that's how I, Isabella Marie Swan, got to where I am now, waiting for the captain to say we can exit the plane. When the seatbelt sign flashed off I gratefully got up and grabbed my knapsack from the luggage rack above the seats before following the crowd off the plane.

Walking through the terminal I couldn't help but be nervous. I hadn't seen my father over the past couple of summers as I had for my whole life when my parents got divorced; in fact it had been almost 4 years since I had last seen him. I felt terrible for imposing myself on him, but I would rather be with him than stay with my mom and her _boyfriend_.

Biting my lip I walked to the main part of the airport and I couldn't help but smile slightly when I saw my dad mimicking my expression. He caught my eye and he dropped to his knees as he would when I was a little kid, and I couldn't help but run into his arms, latching my arms around his neck.

I laughed slightly as he twirled me around before placing me back on my feet, "I've missed you Bells, the phone just isn't the same as seeing you around."

"I missed you too dad," I refused to let him go, and buried my face in his shirt.

"How are you?" He whispered, gently guiding me through the airport to, what I assumed, the parking lot.

"Definitely better now, I don't want to go back," We got to his police cruiser and I got in the passenger side, my knapsack on my lap, and watched as he got into the driver's side.

"You don't have to, I'll be calling your mother tomorrow to let her know that I will be getting full custody of you, and I'll also call and get you enrolled at the local high school," I closed my eyes, leaning my head against the window, and finally fell into a light peaceful sleep.

"Come on Bells, we're here," I felt dad lifting my bag off of me, and then he helped me out of the car.

Yawning, I followed him through the house that I hadn't realized how much I missed. I walked through the familiar halls and through the door to my bedroom that hadn't changed at all since I'd last been here.

Dad put my knapsack down before pulling me into a hug, "It'll be okay now Bells, I won't let anyone hurt you ever again." Kissing the top of my head he pulled me over to the bed and laid me down, covering me with the thin quilt, "Sleep well kiddo, love you"

"I love you too dad," I mumbled, burying my face in the pillow.


	2. Chapter 2

_Starting Anew_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, and if i did, do you _really _think i'd be writing anything on here??? think about it

**Chapter 2: New Starts**

I woke up late with a bright smile on my face for the first time in almost two months. I got dressed and made my way to the kitchen where I began pulling out pots and pans, fully intent on making Dad breakfast, after all it was the least I could do for everything he had done for me just last night. I knew he was a heavy sleeper so I didn't worry too much as I moved around the kitchen, pulling things out of the fridge, which by the way I was going to have to go grocery shopping to restock, and I immediately began to work on cooking an omelette breakfast for both of us, with sausage, bacon, cheese, and green peppers mixed into the eggs.

I worked quickly and I was just adding the finishing touches to the well prepared breakfast when my dad walked through the kitchen, a large smile on his face, "You don't know how long it's been since I've had a meal in this house that has smelled so good."

"I'm glad I could help," I placed both plates on the table one in front of him and one at the empty spot across from him. Before reaching over and giving him a kiss on the cheek and a hug, "Thank you daddy."

Dad ran his fingers through his hair, "You are more than welcome Bells, I just wish you would have told me sooner so I could have gotten you out before yesterday happened."

"I didn't want to bother you," I whispered, picking at my eggs.

"It wouldn't have been any bother. I know I haven't always been there for you, but I'm your father and I'll always be there for you when you need me."

Neither of us were all that comfortable with discussing our feelings, and so we both let the conversation go, eating our breakfasts in a comfortable silence. We both finished at about the same time and he gathered up both of our dishes, saying that I had cooked so he was going to clean. I stayed where I was at the table, realizing how much I missed being with him, just the two of us, and I hated more than ever that my mom decided a couple of years ago that I didn't need to spend every summer in Forks with my dad.

"I'm going to go call your mother now, then I'm going to go register you at the school on my way to work. You're lucky you came during the summer instead of in the middle of the school year, this way you have a week to settle in before being forced to go to the school," Finishing up, he picked up the phone and made his way upstairs, dialling as he went.

Biting my lip anxiously, I walked back upstairs and pulled out my laptop. I was no good at carrying around and keeping a diary, so instead I kept a journal on my computer. I wrote down everything, now that I had no fear of Phil finding and reading it. I poured out my thoughts and soul and I was startled out of my thoughts when there was a nock on the bedroom door.

Looking up, I saw dad standing there with a smile on his face, "You're staying with me Bells, your mom's going to send the custody papers so that we can both sign, then I'll have full custody of you and you'll stay here with me."

I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck as he picked me up and whispered in his ear, "Thank you!"

"I must admit that it was done for a partially selfish reason as well…of course I wanted you out of there and away from _him_ but I also wanted you to stay here and live with me, I really hate it every time you have to lave to go back to your mother 's house," He set me back down on the floor, "I've got to go to register you at school then I've got to go to work, will you be okay here on your own for the day?"

I nodded, "I'll be fine, maybe go for a walk or something."

"That's good," he handed me a brown file, "Dr. Cullen will be stopping by later today to pick up that file, if he comes before I get back," kissing me on the head he walked downstairs and I followed him to the door, "I'll be back around dinner time."

I waved slowly as I watched him get in his police cruiser and drive away from the house. I was so relieved to be away from Phil, but I knew that it was too good to be true. Something was bound to happen that would destroy the happiness that I had finally found.

I sighed as I walked up to my bedroom and started looking through the drawers, grinning as I found my Wurthering Heights that I had forgotten here a couple of summers ago. Carrying my book with me, I walked down the stairs and out the front door. I told my dad I was going to go for a walk, but I didn't make it past the front porch where I stopped at sat on the front steps, sitting down with my back resting against the railing. I started at the beginning of the book and settled myself for a long read.

It had been a couple of hours before I heard what sounded like two vehicles making their way towards the house. Looking up, I saw just one car heading toward the house, it was just doing what looked like twice the speed limit. Surprisingly though, it smoothly came to a stop right in front of the house. I raised my eyebrow in surprise as two men calmly stepped out of the car as if speeding to that extreme in front of the police chief's house is nothing out of the ordinary.


	3. Chapter 3

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters...just the idea for this story_**

**_Author's Note: I really wanted to get this out for Christmas, so here's my early Christmas gift from me to you, and if you don't celebrate Christmas then Happy Holidays all the same. I hope you like this Chapter and if you want to leave a review that would be great and make my Christmas all that much better. Love you all, and enjoy :)_**

**Chapter 3: Meet the Cullens**

The older of the two led the way up the walkway and smiled as he saw me sitting there on the front step, "Hello, you must be Isabella? I'm Dr. Carlisle Cullen and this is my youngest son Edward. Your father said I could drop by to pick up a file he has for the hospital?"

I smiled as I reached out to shake his outstretched hand, "Please, call me Bella, and yeah, the file is upstairs, why don't you come in and take a seat while I run up and get it?"

I walked up and held the door open for the two of them to come in, and then I dashed upstairs to my room where I grabbed the file from where I left it on my bed. I walked back downstairs where I saw Dr. Cullen and his son sitting on the sofa.

"Here it is, do either of you want lunch or do you have to go?" I asked, looking between the two Cullens.

"Well I have to go, but I brought Edward with me so that he can show you around and so that you'll know someone when you have to start school," he stood up and took the folder from me, "I'll see you later Bella, Edward call your brother or sister when you're ready to go home."

"Uhmm..." I didn't have the chance to say anything as he walked past me and right out the door.

Edward chuckled as he stood up and walked over to me, "Sorry about him, he doesn't like to think about anyone being left alone for long periods of time. You didn't have any plans for today, did you?"

I shook my head, "No, I was thinking about going for a walk, but it's been a while since I've been here and I figured I would get lost so I read instead."

"Well we could go on a walk, get you reacquainted with the area, and maybe get to know one another?"

I nodded, "But first I have to leave a note to let my dad know where I've gone in case he gets home before I do."

I led the way into the kitchen where I opened a drawer and pulled out the pad of paper.

_Dad,_

_Dr. Cullen stopped by and I gave him the file you asked me to. His son came with him and the two of us went for a walk, I'll be home in time to make dinner._

_Love you_

_~Bella_

Placing the note on the table I turned to Edward, who was leaning against the counter watching me, "Okay, I'm ready to go whenever you are."

"Alright, let's go then. The school's in walking distance from here, so I guess we can start from there," he opened the front door and held it open for me to walk through before he did himself.

We walked down the street in silence, "So, how old are you?"

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, "I'm 17 actually, and I'll be in my last year of high school this year. What about you?"

"Same, only I've already had my birthday so I'm 18. Do you visit with your father often?" he asked, gently pulling me back when I had passed the turn.

"I used to visit every summer, but then I haven't been here for the past four years, I wanted to, but…my mom didn't want me to come."

"That's a shame, I've lived here for almost eight years, so I'm surprised I didn't run into you while you were here. How'd you get your mom to let you move here, move out in the middle of the night?" he joked as we started to see the school just up the road, I blushed and looked away and he gasped as he noticed, "You're kidding me right?"

"No, not that it matters anymore anyway, Dad called her first thing this morning to be sure he could get full custody of me, don't know how he got her to agree though," I looked towards the school, "Is that seriously big enough for all the high school students in Forks?"

He chuckled slightly, "Yeah, it's a small town, everyone knows everything there is to know about everyone else, so on your first day, don't be surprised if everyone already knows your name, it's bound to happen."

I groaned, "That's just great, absolutely fantastic. So not only am I a klutz, I'm a klutz that everyone will be staring at? Yeah, that just made my life."

He laughed, "Well I'll be sure to save you from as many embarrassing situations as I possibly can, I'll also have to introduce you to my brother and sister, they would have come but my sister and her friend decided that they were going on a shopping week and they dragged my brother and friend with them, I just didn't get home until they left so I didn't get stuck going along as well."

"Shopaholics?" I asked, already dreading meeting them, "Am I like the only girl that isn't obsessed with shopping?"

He raised his eyebrow at me, "Well I don't know about being the _only_ one, but you're definitely the only one I've ever met. I should really warn you then, Alice is the one you'll want to be sure you're not stuck alone with for long periods of time, you might just end up her next 'subject'."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. So this is the school, where to next?"

"Well, besides the school, I don't see what else around here could be of importance, there's Port Angeles, but that's not within walking distance and that's where you would do shopping or go out for dinner and whatnot. If you want I can drive you there before school starts, but for walking this is about it that you'll need to know how to get to," he turned around and we walked back the way we came.

"Thank you for showing me, and going for a drive to Port Angeles sounds like a plan. Now hopefully I'll remember how to get here when it comes time for school," I said, trying to memorize the way both to and from the school, "I should probably head home and get started on dinner, dad can't cook to save his life. Did – did you want to stay for dinner?" I blushed, not meeting his eye.

"Sure, can I help at all?"

"Well that just depends, are you the typical guy that's terrible in the kitchen?" I asked, looking up to glance at him suspiciously.

"Uhhh…do you really want an answer to that?" he rubbed his fingers through his hair.

I couldn't help but laugh, "Okay, well maybe you can cut vegetables then?"

"I _think_ I can manage that. Well, let's see then, do you know how to get back from this point?" he stopped walking and turned to look at me.

Biting my lip I slowly turned and began walking, slightly comforted by the fact that if I was going to get lost, at least I wasn't about to get lost on my own, "This isn't fair you know, I have a terrible memory so you can't really expect me to know where I'm going after showing me only once…" I trailed off as I realized there was no one walking beside me, "…Edward?" I turned around to see him still standing at the corner, laughing to himself; laughing at me no doubt.

"You turned the wrong way," he said, reaching his hand toward me.

I slowly walked towards him, refusing to meet his eyes, but I did take his hand, refusing to be separated and lost on my own in this town that I should know, but yet seemed like somewhere completely foreign to me.

"So what brings you to Forks anyway?" he asked, seemingly forgetting about getting me to lead the way.

"Uhh…well, I just _really_ had to get away from Arizona," I said, not meeting his eyes, "Something happened that was going on for way too long and I had to get out."

"Okay, I know that's not everything, but I won't push you into telling me, but if you ever need to talk I'm not going anywhere any time soon."

By this point we had made it back to the house, and I didn't see the police cruiser sitting in the driveway so I'm guessing we've made it there before him. Unlocking the door, I pulled him into the kitchen, without even realizing I was still holding onto his hand until he tugged me backwards, catching me as I started to fall towards the ground.

"I think it's still early to start on dinner, why don't we watch a movie or something?" he suggested, setting me upright.

"Alright, I don't know what movies my dad has here though," we went to the living room and over to the T.V. cabinet.

Edward reached in and pulled out one that immediately had me shaking my head, "Aw, come one, Saw is so good it should be a classic," Edward waved it in front of me.

Hesitantly, I bit my lip, "I don't know…if we do then once I can get one you're going to have to watch a chick flick with me as payback."

He just nodded as he stuck the movie into the DVD player and the two of us moved to sit on the couch, Edward got up just before the movie started to flick off the light. Even though the sun was still out, very little light reached into the room because my dad was always sure that the blinds were closed, he was positive that one day someone was going to climb through the window and steal everything. Now that I lived here with him he was concerned that the 'burglar' wouldn't just stop with material things and would come after me as well. I thought that was completely foolish but I was alright with it until now, now when I wanted the light to at least be a comfort during the movie, but before I could ask Edward to keep the light on, he was sitting beside me again.

I didn't last long until I was hesitantly reaching for his hand, blushing when he looked at me questioningly, "I'm sorry, I just _really_ don't do well with weird-ish movies."

"It's okay, I don't mind," but he reached for my hand with his that was farthest away, and wrapped the other arm around me so I was safely locked between his arms, "is this better?"

I nodded slowly, "Yeah, much better, thank you."

"You are very welcome," he said, his eyes going back to the T.V., "If you want, we can stop it if it's too bad for you?"

"No, you don't have to…I just won't watch anymore," I started to play with our joined hands, adamantly refusing to even glance at the screen.

"If you're sure…" I could tell he was hesitating slightly, but in the end he seemed to let it go and continued to watch the movie, and I tried my hardest to block out all of the sounds coming from the T.V., but I still couldn't help flinching at all of the disturbing sounds I heard.

I was relieved when the movie finally ended, but at the same time I had wanted it to go on for at least a little while longer, just so I could have an excuse to stay in his arms, and that thought surprised me. After all I had just met him, so why did I feel like this?

**_Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave me a little Christmas review, some of the best presents I could wish for this Christmas._**


	4. Chapter 4

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize, that means characters or places, but I did come up with the situations to put these borrowed characters in.  
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who's been reading this, and your reviews have meant a lot to me. To those of you who have been reading my other stories, I promise that new chapters are on their way for Standing in the Rain and Where He Belongs. _**

**Chapter 4: Making Dinner**

I pushed those confusing thoughts from my head and tried to hide my disappointment when he unwrapped his arms from around me by getting up to take out the DVD, "My dad will be home soon…I probably should start on dinner so it's ready for when he gets here."

He nodded, unwrapping his arms from around me and stood up facing me, reaching his hand down to help me up, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Um…I don't _think_ so…then again I don't know what it is I'm going to make yet either. What do you like?" I led him towards the kitchen and sat him down at the island, blushing when he raised his eyebrow at me, "Well if you're staying for dinner I don't want to make something you don't like."

"That's okay, I'm not a picky eater so whatever you make is good I guess…I don't want to cause you trouble," he flashed a crooked smile my way.

"It's no trouble at all…to be honest I don't know how my dad's lived by himself for this long, he doesn't know how to cook very well," I carefully avoided looking him in the eye, in fear of losing myself, "So what is it that you like?"

"I'm a guy, I eat just about anything, though not quite as much as my brother," he rolled his eyes, "But I _know_ how to make pasta, so I can help with that more than I'd be able to with anything else."

I couldn't help but laugh, "Okay that sounds like a plan to me, quick and easy. And since you sound like you're almost as bad as my dad you can boil the water," I handed him a pot before searching the cupboards for the pasta, sighing when I realized that the kitchen was less stocked than I had originally thought, "Uh…okay, so we have no pasta…how far is the grocery store?"

He laughed, placing the pot filled with water on the stovetop, "Definitely not within walking distance if you want to get there quickly. How about we call for pizza, and I'll take you to the grocery store tomorrow? I _told_ my dad that we should take two cars, but he wouldn't listen."

I laughed, "Okay, I guess, I don't want to put you out."

He already had the phone in his hand and was dialling the number for the pizza place and shook his head at me, "It's no problem at all."

I walked past him and out of the kitchen to make my way upstairs when suddenly he was standing in front of me, "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, holding me in place as he ordered a large pepperoni pizza from whoever was on the phone and gave them my address.

"I _was_ going upstairs to get money from my purse to pay for the pizza," I said, trying to go around him.

"No need, I've got it covered," He easily picked me up with one arm and after hoisting me over his shoulder lugged me to the living room and placed me down on the couch, "Now, you are going to sit there like a nice girl and not complain. Besides, this is the way I know how to cook, and probably how your dad ate when he lived here on his own."

I frowned slightly at him, "That's not fair though, you're the guest so it should be up to us to feed you, not the other way around. You have to let me make it up to you somehow," I raised my eyebrow at him and he sat down beside me.

"We'll see if we can think of a way, but for now let me do this to welcome you to Forks," he smiled his crooked smile, and I instantly got lost just looking at him, before snapping out of it and grabbed the remote away from him.

I sat still, looking straight at the T.V. and flipping through the channels, pointedly ignoring him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad. It's just the way I was raised, to be a gentleman," I looked over and laughed at the 'puppy dog eyes' he was giving me.

"Okay, I guess this _one_ time can't hurt, just promise you won't make a habit out of it," I caved, I couldn't help it.

"If I absolutely have too, then I promise," I could tell that he didn't honestly mean that. He got up when the doorbell rang and pulled out the right amount of cash and paid the delivery guy before walking back into the kitchen and placing the pizza on the table, "See, now that's how I make dinner."

_Okay so there's the next chapter, I know it's short but I promise that the next one is longer and I have up to chapter 8 writen at this point, but it's up to if I get feedback and if I do then how much that decided how quickly I post up the rest of what I have ready. Hope you all enjoyed it and you don't have to review, but if you do it would mean a lot to me :)_


	5. Chapter 5

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize, yadda yadda yadda...you know the drill if i really owned any of this I wouldn't be posting it here, I'd be trying to make money off of it  
Author's Note: The feedback I got from the last chapter was really positive and I thank those of you who reviewed, but I do feel bad for just giving you such a short chapter, so I hope this makes up for it...Oh and before I forget, in Chapter 3 Bella says that she had to get away from Seattle, I meant to say Arizona so I hope that doesn't confuse anybody_**

**Chapter 5: Surprise Plans**

I got out three plates and glasses and set the table while Edward put the pizza on the counter. Looking at the clock I knew that my dad would be home soon, and Edward suggested that we should wait for him before we began eating, I agreed and not even two minutes later I heard the front door open.

I walked to the kitchen's doorway and saw my dad hanging up his coat and gun on the coat rack before he walked over to where I was standing and swept me up into a hug.

"How was your day Bells?" he set me down, and a surprised look flickered across his face before recognition flashed in his eyes, "Ah, Edward, it seems I have you to thank for keeping my baby girl company today. There were no problems with the file your dad got were there?"

"It was my pleasure Chief Swan, and no, there shouldn't be a problem, it seemed to be the one he needed. He said to thank you for being able to get them to him so quickly," Edward answered as we all took our food into the living room and onto the sofa, where I ended up in between the two of them as my dad turned on the baseball game.

"That's good, let him know that if there are any problems at all that he can call me either at the station or at home and I'll fix the problem as soon as possible," and with that we lost my dad as all of his attention was tuned into the TV.

I laughed quietly at how quickly he became absorbed into it, yet the game didn't hold my attention for long, I was never much of a sports fan. Looking on my other side, it looked like Edward was captivated by the game as well, it _must_ be a guy thing.

The three of us ate in silence, and once we were finished I brought all of our plates to the kitchen and ran upstairs to grab my book…if I was going to sit downstairs where they were both watching sports, I wasn't going to be bored while doing it. I sat back downstairs and saw that neither of them had moved since I left. I sat back down between them and laughed when my dad wrapped his arm around me in a half-hug and kissed the top of my head, all without looking away from the screen. At the end of the game I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you what sport it was, who was playing, or who won, but what I _could_ tell you is that after my dad let me go and I was able to sit properly again, Edward gently held my hand and didn't let go until the very end of the game, just in time for my dad to turn towards us.

"So Edward, how are you getting home tonight?" my dad asked, and I kept my book up so it covered the blush slowly but steadily covering my entire face.

"Well since my dad decided we should take one car instead of two I'll have to call either my brother or sister to pick me up, preferably Emmett though, Alice can be…intimidating with new people," He smirked down at me as we got up and I showed him where the phone was. I heard him talking to presumably Emmett, telling him where to pick him up and half of a quick argument before he hung up and smiled, "No Alice, thank goodness. Emmett should be here soon."

I smiled, "Well if you want we can sit outside and wait for him there, that way we don't keep him waiting." We sat on the porch steps, "Are we still on for tomorrow?" I asked hesitantly, wishing he would say yes, but knowing he probably wouldn't.

"Of course, unless you've changed your mind?"

"I haven't changed my mind, I just wanted to double check."

"Well, no worries there. What time do you want me to pick you up?"

"Whenever's good for you, you're the one going out of his way to drive me around town."

"Well what about I pick you up at 10 and then while we're out I can show you around?" he smiled at me as he leaned against the railing, facing towards the main road.

"Sounds good to me," I copied his position, keeping an eye out for an unfamiliar car, and jumped when I saw a large Jeep rounding the corner, "_Please_ tell me that's not what your brother drives," I could only stare, wide eyed, as it stopped right in front of the house.

"Oh no…he brought Alice," Edward groaned, burying his face in his hands.

I glanced at him, before looking back at the huge Jeep in front of us. A really heavily muscled guy had gotten out of the driver's side, and was around on the passenger's side opening the door and lifting a small pixie girl out. The two of them walked towards us, the girl twirling herself around as she walked.

"Bella, this is my brother and sister, Emmett and Alice. Guys this is Bella Swan, Chief Swan's daughter," Edward didn't lift his head.

"It's nice to meet both of you," I said as Edward and I made our way down the front steps.

Emmett took two large strides over and picked me up into the biggest bear hug I had ever been given, and he ended up holding me like a child with my legs wrapped around his waist and me resting on his hip, both his arms around me holding me in place, "Bellsy, took you long enough to get here, we've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time."

"Uh, well…I…um…wait, Bellsy?" I tried to look him in the eye, but even at the height he had me at I wasn't anywhere near eye level.

He only laughed, but didn't put me down, completely ignoring the looks I saw Edward giving him, "So Bella –"

Alice jumped up onto Edward's back so she was higher than what must only be 5 feet, if that, "Hi Bella. When can we go shopping? Oh, I know! I'll introduce you to Rosalie and the three of us can go tomorrow. Can we ask Chief Swan if you can spend the night tonight so we can get an early start? Can I play with your hair, and why do you not wear make-up? Are you going to Forks High this year? I hope we have the same classes, we're going to be good friends."

I just looked at her and couldn't say anything, and before I knew what was happening, Alice was off of Edward and running inside the house. I looked between the two brothers, "Is…is she always like this? So full of energy?"

"Yes, sorry about her. I _thought_ Emmett was coming on his own," he glared up at Emmett, who had the decency to look sorry.

"I was going to, but then she found out where I was going and snuck her way into the Jeep, I'm guessing she left Rose and Jazz back at the house, they're spending the night as far as I know," Emmett rolled his eyes and looked at me, "So it looks like you're ours for the weekend…Alice can talk your dad into almost…anything," he trailed off as Alice walked out of the house, with my dad following behind her.

Emmett immediately put me down in front of him, beside Edward, and stood behind the two of us. Alice skipped her way over and latched herself onto my arm and smiled up at me, even though I wasn't all that much taller than her, a head at most. I looked over at Edward, unsure what to make of his hyperactive sister.

My dad looked at me with one eyebrow raised, "Alice asked if you could go over to the Cullen's place for the night, get to know one another before school starts up. I called Esme and she says it's no problem, so you can go if you like, but if you need anything I want you to call me right away. Go on upstairs and get a change of clothes, there should be an overnight bag in the hall closet upstairs."

I blushed slightly and nodded at him, "Okay dad," I looked at the Cullens surrounding me, "Uh…I'll be back then?"

I didn't get two steps before I heard Edward speak up, "I'll come with you…if that's okay with you Chief Swan?"

"Of course Edward, go right on ahead you two…Alice, Emmett, do you two want to come inside while you wait?"

Edward pulled me to the house and up the stairs before he let out a shaky breath, "I am _so_ sorry about Alice. You don't have to go if you don't want to, and I'll get you out of shopping with her tomorrow…besides we have plans for tomorrow anyway, don't we?"

I laughed softly as I grabbed the bag my dad was talking about and lead Edward to my room where I started to pack things I would need for tonight and tomorrow, "Yes, I suppose we do have plans for tomorrow. And I don't mind, she seems really nice, so do the rest of your family…but if you don't want me to," I stopped what I was doing to look at him.

"What? Of course I do, I just didn't want to make you feel weird around us. I want you to come, but only if you want to, not because you feel like you have to. I would definitely understand if you didn't, you just met us after all," We walked back downstairs to see my dad sitting in the living room, "Here, I'll take that for you and meet you by the door while you say good bye to your dad."

I thanked him and handed him my bag before sitting beside my dad on the couch, "Hey dad…are you sure that you don't mind me going?"

"Of course it's okay Bells…you need a fresh beginning, and by the looks of it Edward is going to be a big part of that, no matter how much I don't want to see my baby girl growing up. I'll give him a good talking to later, but for now I'm just glad that Edward Cullen was able to make you forget about what happened for at least a little while," He pulled me into a big hug, "I only ask that you call me tonight and tomorrow morning either here or at the station. Love you kiddo."

"Love you too Dad," I kissed his cheek and he walked me over to the door where Edward was patiently waiting.

"Keep an eye out for her Edward…if anything happens to her I'm holding you personally responsible," My dad gave Edward the sternest look I've ever seen.

_**Okay guys, thanks for reading and if you could leave a review to tell me what you like or what I should change that would be wonderful...love you all :D**_


	6. Chapter 6

_Starting Anew_

_**Disclaimer: If I owned Twilight I can promise you that I wouldn't be posting anything like this here.  
**_**_A/N: Okay, I know I promised that this would have been up within a week of the last one buuuut my school had been on strike for 3 months and we just went back on Monday, so I've been busy catching up and reviewing my work for school. But now I'm inbetween classes and I figured that you all deserved something for making you all wait longer than I intended. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter._**

**Chapter 6: And things Just click**

Edward nodded and I kissed my dad's cheek again and tried to take my bag back from Edward as we walked towards the Jeep, but he refused to give it back. He opened the backseat door and after tossing my bag in, lifted me up so I could get in as well before sliding in beside me. Emmett turned to smirk at us and Alice was bouncing excitedly in her seat beside him.

Edward immediately tensed, "Make sure your seatbelt is on…we have the tendency to drive kinda crazily but you're not used to that," I did as he said, but the piece of fabric holding me in didn't make me feel all that much safer, Edward laughed slightly, "Emmett…slow down a bit," Surprisingly Emmett did as he was asked, though it was still much faster than what I was used to, and Edward turned back to me, "Anyways, you deserve a bit of an explanation before we get there. Emmett is my twin, fraternal of course, and Alice is younger than us by a year. Rosalie and Jasper Hale are twins as well and are usually at our place as their parents travel quite a bit. I'm actually surprised that they didn't come along with these two."

I could only concentrate on one thing he told me, "The two of you are _twins_? You're kidding right?"

He only laughed as the car pulled up into a gorgeous olden style house. There were two blonde teens waiting outside the front, one boy and one girl. Emmett jumped out, but the blonde boy was the one to help Alice out of the front seat. Edward grabbed my bag and hopped out of the car before reaching up and helping me down as well. Emmett pulled the blonde girl into his arms and the two of them led the way into the house, with Alice and the other boy following.

"That was Rosalie and Jasper. Emmett and Rose have been going out for going on three years now, and it'll be a year for Alice and Jasper in a couple of weeks," Edward explained before we followed the others.

I followed close behind him, the other four went into the living room, but I followed Edward into the kitchen where a woman was tidying up. She didn't notice us when we walked in, so Edward cleared his throat, getting her attention immediately.

"Ah, Edward…and you must be Isabella, your father told Carlisle you would be coming in today, I hope Edward was good company today," She smiled and pulled me into a friendly hug, it was surprisingly comforting seeing as how for all intensive purposes this woman was a complete stranger to me.

"Bella, this is my mother, Esme," Edward introduced me, "Mom, I'm going to go with Bella and drop her things off upstairs and give her a bit of a tour."

"Alright dear…I'm sure the lot of you will be sleeping down here in the living room, so you can bring her things up to your room, it was nice meeting you dear," she went back to cleaning up.

"Thank you ma'am, it was nice meeting you Mrs. Cullen," I tried to take my bag from Edward again, should have known that he wouldn't give it up.

"Call me Esme sweetheart, ma'am makes me feel old and Mrs. Cullen is Edward's grandmother," I nodded at her and followed Edward out of the kitchen.

"Okay well we'll start with upstairs then," Edward started up the stairs and I followed behind him, being sure to hold on the railing, but I still managed to trip over the last stair, only managing not to fall when I felt an arm wrap around my waist, "You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks, I'm not exactly the most coordinated person around," I blushed as he kept his arm around my waist as we headed towards a closed door at the top of the stairs.

"We can't have you falling now, can we?" He smirked at me and gestured for me to open the door as both of his hands were full, I did and was amazed at how open the room was, "Okay, well this is my room. If you need to get away from everyone tonight you can come on up here…there should be enough music to entertain yourself with."

I only nodded as he pulled me back out of the room and showed me where the bathroom was, and pointed towards Alice's and Emmett's rooms and told me his parents' room was upstairs. Then he surprised me by pulling me into another room beside his. There was a beautiful piano in the corner of the room, and the walls had trophies of all kinds, a pool table in the centre of the room, as well as paint easel in the opposite corner of the piano.

"This is the Rec. room. I play the piano, Alice paints, and since nothing artsy is _manly_ enough for Emmett he plays pool while we're in here. The trophies are mostly from sports things that Emmett's done, but there are a couple of dance ones from when Alice was younger and the odd talent show one from when my parents made me play in it," Edward lead me over to the piano bench and the two of us sat down, leaning back against the closed piano.

"Impressive…very talented family you have Mr. Cullen, you'll have to play for me sometime," I couldn't help but giggle as I realized he had pizza sauce on his chin, not enough to be really noticeable, someone could probably only see it if they were sitting as close as I was.

Edward nodded, "Our parents didn't like us just sitting at home doing nothing all day…" He trailed off as he noticed me still laughing quietly to myself, "What's so funny?"

I reached up and rubbed the sauce off of his chin, slowly shaking my head at him, still laughing to myself.

He chuckled, "Thanks…didn't realize that was there," he grabbed my hand and led me out of the room, back down the stairs and through to the living room where his siblings and friends were.

I saw Alice and Jasper curled up together on the recliner and Emmett and Rosalie were lying together across the sofa. Edward guided me to the loveseat that was between the other two and pulled me down to sit beside him. The other four were in the middle of watching Rocky Horror Picture Show and Emmett seemed to be the only one not paying attention to the film.

"So Bella, how're you liking Forks so far?" Emmett whispered, running his fingers through Rosalie's hair, as she was using his chest as a pillow.

"It's already a lot better than back home in Phoenix, and I haven't been here for that long," I whispered back, smiling as Rosalie moved to get closer to her human pillow.

"Phoenix must have been really crappy if you like here better than where the sun actually shines," Emmett turned his head back towards the T.V., but I couldn't ignore what he said and I was caught in flashbacks of Phil and what he did to me.

I jumped when I felt someone put their hand on me, but looking beside me I saw it was only Edward.

"Is something the matter?" he put an arm around me and pulled me closer to him, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, guess I just zoned out for a bit," I said, trying to keep my voice as even as possible.

"Alright, just remember if you start to feel the least bit uncomfortable then I want you to let me know."

I nodded, biting my lip slightly. I was glad that even though I had just met Edward, he seemed to be a dependable friend, which is what I needed right now more than anything. I let myself get lost in the movie, being very careful not to let my mind wander into dangerous thoughts.

**_Okay, that's it for this round, I hope you liked it, and I had so many reviews it really made me feel good and made me thing I must be doing something right here. _**


	7. Chapter 7

_Starting Anew_

**_A/N: I am so sorry that this is so much later than I promised you all, but I have exams now because of my school is being a pain in the butt because it was on strike for 3 months and then trying to catch up with the work missed and reviewing what we learned three months earlier and now the exams. And I tried to sign in the past couple of days and it wouldn't let me so this is much later than I expected but I hope you all enjoy it all the same and don't hate me too much. _**

**Chapter 7: Revelations **

"So Bella, why did you move to Forks?" Alice asked. The movie ended and Alice had sent the boys upstairs for blankets for everyone to sleep in the living room.

"Uh…well, you see…"I bit my lip anxiously and curled myself further into the couch, "Uhm…" I realized that I was starting to hyperventilate, but I was such a terrible liar and I couldn't figure out a way of not answering her question.

Thankfully, the guys came back downstairs and dropped all the blankets in a pile on the floor and sat back down in their vacated seats. Edward must have seen how worked up I had gotten myself because he brought me closer to his side and rubbed soothing circles on my back, which were slightly helping but I couldn't stop myself from grabbing onto his shirt tightly with both hands.

"Bella? Are you okay? If you don't want to answer it's alright, I'm so sorry," I could faintly hear Alice's voice from somewhere behind Edward, but I was once again caught up in the reason why I was here to begin with, _Phil_.

"Shh…it's okay Bella. You're okay," I could hear the words Edward was whispering in my ear, but I couldn't bring myself to react to it, "Guys I'm going to bring Bella upstairs for a bit."

Edward picked me up and I distantly felt him carry me through the house, up the stairs, and to I assumed his bedroom. He sat down on his bed and kept me sitting sideways on his lap, letting me stay with my head tucked up against his chest. Again I got the feeling that I shouldn't be this comfortable around a guy I had just met, but I decided to ignore it and place that thought aside to think about later. I felt myself relaxing as Edward continued to whisper to me softly and run his fingers through my hair.

"Are you okay Bella?" He asked, and I pulled away just enough to nod my head before putting it back down, "Do you want to talk about it? I mean, I know we just met, but if there's anything I can help with, just let me know."

I bit my lip and nodded hesitantly against his chest, "I think so, I just don't know if I can yet," I looked up at him and blushed as I saw him looking back at me with a small smile that just barely reached his eyes.

"We can talk about it whenever you're ready to, it doesn't have to be now if you don't think you can now," he whispered, brushing a loose piece of hair away from my face.

"I want to though…but it might take a while. I don't want you to feel like you have to put up with how pathetic I am," I let got of his shirt with one hand so I could wipe the tears that I felt pooling in my eyes.

He pushed away my hand and wiped my tears with the hand that wasn't running through my hair, "Bella, of course I want you to tell me…but only if you want to. We can sit here for as long as it takes if you like. I know we've only known each other for a day, but for some reason I feel very protective of you, like I've known you for much longer."

I blushed, "Thank you, that means a lot, especially since I feel like I can really trust you…I feel safe when I'm with you."

Edward wrapped both arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head, "I promise to do my best to ensure that you _are_ safe."

I tried to pull away but he only held on tighter, but I managed to pull away far enough to see his face, "I can't let you do that, then if he decides to come here, he'll get you too."

"Who will get me Bella?" he asked, looking down at me, concern shining brightly in his eyes, "Who is it that you're so afraid of?"

I closed my eyes and rested my head against Edward's chest, and again he rested his head on top of my own, "Phil, my mom's boyfriend back in Phoenix. He gave me the creeps when my mom first started going out with him…but he never actually _did_ anything. Then he moved in and that's when he started to actually hit me."

Edward didn't say anything, just pulled me closer, and I was thankful for the silence because I wasn't sure that if I stopped I would be able to keep talking. I was trying my best to not thing about what it was I was saying and just letting my mouth run on auto-pilot, being as disconnected from the words as entirely possible.

"It scared me, I mean my own dad doesn't even hit me if I do something wrong, and here was this guy I had practically just met and he was shoving me around. I tried to talk to my mom about it but she didn't believe me and then she did what I guess I should have seen her doing, but I just didn't. I thought she would be on my side and do something about it…" I let out a sarcastic laugh, "Yeah, right, what was I thinking. No, instead she went right to Phil and told him everything I said to her, and of course he denied all of it, but that night…" I had to stop…this wasn't the worst of it, but I couldn't make the words come out, the only other person I had told was my dad and that was only a couple of days ago, and now here I was trying to tell a person who was practically a stranger to me.

Edward hugged me tighter to himself, "If you want to stop you can, I won't force you to tell me something you don't want to."

Immediately I shook my head, but my voice came out as barely a whisper, "I want to, but it's just so hard because the only other person I've ever told is my dad, and that was only a couple of days ago," we sat in silence for I don't know how long before I managed to build up the courage to continue, "…That night is when he started the actual beatings. It just…it just kept getting worse and worse. I couldn't bring myself to tell my dad, I didn't want to ruin his life and some part of me also thought that he would just dismiss it like my mom did."

Edward just nodded, and looking up I saw so many emotions swirling through his bright green eyes, but I couldn't define one of them even if I had to. I knew that he wouldn't hate me for what I was going to say next, that he wouldn't mock me, and if anything this could be a sign that my bad luck was changing.

"A couple of nights ago, Phil took my mom out for a big celebratory dinner after he got signed for this minor league baseball team and I decided to turn in early…" I turned my head but Edward pulled my face back toward him, so I took a deep breath and continued, "When he came home that night…I don't think I've ever been so scared, and I don't think it's possible to ever be that scared again. He had this dangerous look in his eye, and he just kept stalking towards my bed. He had climbed on top of me and pulled my nightgown over my head. He just kept touching me and I _know_ that he would have…he would have…" I just couldn't finish and buried my face against Edward's shoulder and let his shirt hide my tears.

"And that's why you ran away from Phoenix?" Edward asked, pulling me closer as I nodded, "You're perfectly safe here, I'll do everything I can to ensure that. Phil would have to go through not only your father and me, but also everyone downstairs who would help you even without knowing why, don't worry I won't say anything if you don't want me to."

"Thank you, I don't think I want anyone else to know," I hesitantly looked up at him, "I just felt like I could trust you for some reason."

"I promise to do all I can to be sure that I don't break that trust," he ran his fingers through my hair and I instantly found myself relaxing under his touch, "Did you want to go back downstairs or stay up here? Or if you want we can call your dad or I can drive you home if you feel uncomfortable."

"Downstairs is fine, I feel much better now, but if I have a nightmare can you wake me up?" I stood up off of Edward's lap, biting back a smile as Edward kept my hand in his as he stood up beside me, "I didn't have one last night but…"

"Of course," He grabbed my bag and led the way to the bathroom, "Why don't you get cleaned up and changed before we head downstairs? I'll meet you right here after you're done."

I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I quickly washed off my face to get rid of any traces of tears I could before pulling my toothbrush out of my bag that Edward left sitting by the door for me. I brushed my teeth and ran my fingers through my hair to straighten it up after the mess it had become and I quickly changed into my pink and grey Tinkerbell pjs before walking out of the bathroom. I was surprised to see Edward already standing against the wall, changed in a pair of dark green sleep pants and a black T-shirt.

"I just have to brush my teeth then we'll head down," He walked past me, leaving the door open behind him, so I leaned against the door frame, meeting his eyes through the mirror above the sink, he smirked at me as he washed his face and turned off the light as we left the bathroom.

I followed him back to the staircase where I stopped, I didn't want to go downstairs where I had made a huge fool out of myself. I looked down as I felt Edward gently grab my hand and waited for me to start walking first. I bit my lip and kept my head down as he brought me back to the loveseat where we both sat down, Edward keeping me close to his side. Looking up through my hair I saw the other four hadn't moved, but both of the girls looked like they had tears in their eyes.

"Bella, are you OK?" Alice asked, leaning closer to me, "I'm sorry."

I took a calming breath before I looked up at them, "Yeah, I'm fine Alice, and there's nothing to apologize for," I gave her a small smile and I saw her eyes _sparkle_ as I unconsciously started play with Edward's hand that I was still holding tightly between both of mine.

**_A/N: Thank You for reading, reviews would be nice, even just to let me know if there's anything I can do differently, anything that I should change, or if you have any questions. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I plan on having the next chapter up as soon as I possibly can, which hopefully will be within a week. _**


	8. Chapter 8

_Starting Anew_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize  
Author's Note: Okay, I thought I was going to get this up last Wednesday, but I was too anxious about getting my wisdom teeth pulled out to really concentrate on it sooo after not really feeling like sitting upright for a while and unable to really focus on anything here's the next chapter. I'd actually like to dedicate this chapter to TWILIGHTreader1 who's really expressed a lot of interest in this story and I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. Anyways read on, and if there's any questions go ahead and ask and I'll do my best to clear up any confusion. **_

**Chapter 8: Comfort Offered and Recieved**

"Okay boys, the air mattresses are already inflated but you'll have to go get them from the basement, Alice and I have to go get changed," I smiled gratefully at Rosalie as she quickly got everyone's attention off of me and she flashed me a small smile of her own.

Emmett and Jasper stood up and helped their girlfriends up as well and watched as they headed upstairs. Edward stood up as well, and I instinctively tightened my hold on his hand.

"C'mon Bella, it's safer for you to come with us," Emmett laughed, pushing Edward away and picking me up the same way as before, me resting on his hip like a small child.

Jasper laughed, "It's true, they'll probably just end up playing dress-up, with you as their unwilling subject."

Edward just shook his head as he and Jasper walked ahead and opened the door that lead to the basement. The two of them started down the stairs, and I realized that Emmett was planning on doing the same thing with me still in his arms.

"Emmett…could you put me down for the stairs? I don't think you'll drop me it's just…" I bit my lip, hoping he would listen. I had a slight fear of heights, and the thought of being carried down the stairs made me really uncomfortable.

The other two stopped in the middle of the staircase and looked back up at us. I saw Edward giving Emmett a look that he probably thought I couldn't see, but either way I was grateful for it as Emmett gently put me down on my own two feet at the top of the staircase and grandly gestured for me to go in front of him.

Walking into the basement I saw that the Cullens had turned what is usually used for storage had been turned into a games room. Each of the guys grabbed what looked like a camp air mattress the size of a double bed and Edward told me to go up the stairs first. His reasoning being that I would keep them from banging into anything and that if my clumsiness kicked in at least one of them would be able to stop me from falling down the stairs.

Once we got back to the living room Edward and Emmett began moving around the furniture so that they were able to place all three air mattresses side by side in the middle of the room. Jasper and I stood off to the side and out of their way.

"So Bella, what grade are you going into?" Jasper asked, leaning against the wall.

"12th actually, what about you?" I asked, looking over at him.

"Same, Alice is the only one out of the bunch of us that isn't in any of our classes," Jasper smiled softly and I saw love shining through his eyes and I _knew_ that the two of them would last a long time, if not forever.

We continued our short conversation as the two brothers argued about where to put what piece of furniture. A loud thud caught our attention, however, and we both started laughing as we saw Edward sprawled on the ground with Emmett flopped on top of him.

"What happened?" I asked in concern, Jasper didn't look like he would be talking or breathing properly for the time being.

"Edward didn't move out of the way in time," Emmett actually pouted as he got off of Edward and helped him up.

Edward just rolled his eyes at his brother and walked over to where I was standing, Jasper was lying on the floor he was laughing so hard, "It's fine Bella, it's something that happens more often than I would like to admit, I'm so used to it that it doesn't hurt anymore I promise."

I nodded as Edward stepped over Jasper who had stopped laughing but was still lying on the ground, "Okay…if you're sure?"

He only nodded, "Positive," he put his hand on my back and lead me into the kitchen, "We'll leave Emmett to finish up in there and we can grab drinks and whatnot instead."

I nodded, "Would it be possible for me to use the phone first? I promised my dad I'd call him tonight and I don't want him to worry about me."

"Yeah, of course, there's a phone in the kitchen that you can use," Edward showed me where there was a phone hanging on the wall right by the entrance to the kitchen.

I quickly dialled my dad's number, and waited for him to pick up on the other line and felt myself relax once he did, "Hi dad, it's me."

"Bells, is everything okay?" he asked, and I could hear him starting to panic.

"Yeah dad, everything's fine. Um…I actually told Edward everything," I bit my lip, wondering how my dad would react.

"Why? Did something happen Bella? How did he take it?" I could hear my dad shuffling around the house and what sounded like a door open.

"I _think_ I had a panic attack, but Edward stayed with me until I was calmer, he even brought me away from everyone else so not everyone saw how bad it got. I just started thinking of Phil, and I just couldn't get him out of my head. Talking to Edward helped though, I think. I just felt that I could really trust him dad," at this point I know I heard a car start in the background, "Dad, are you in your car?"

I saw Edward turn from the fridge and give me a confused look as I heard my dad's answer, "Yes, I am Bella. I should have known that it wasn't that great of an idea for you to spend the night somewhere else right away. I'll come pick you up and bring you home, tell that Edward boy he can come by the house tomorrow. You should have called me earlier."

"Dad, I'm fine now. Edward had suggested calling you earlier, but I told him I was fine, and I am. Edward's made sure I'm comfortable and hasn't left my side all night," I tried to reassure him, but I could still hear the car in the background.

"I don't know Bells," I could hear the hesitation in his voice, "Is Edward there with you now?"

"Yeah, he's right here, why?" I looked to where Edward had put the bottles of soda on the counter beside three large bags of chips, and had gotten out bowls and glasses.

"Can you put him on the phone please Bells?" I could tell he wasn't sure if he should leave me here or come and pick me up.

"Sure thing," I tapped Edward on the shoulder, "Um, Edward, my dad wants to talk to you?"

"Okay, can you just put the chips in the bowls then?" when I nodded Edward took the phone from me and the two of us switched places.

I didn't bother listening to Edward's end of the conversation as I concentrated on not dropping or knocking anything over as I emptied the bags of chips into the three bowls that Edward had already gotten out. I finished that then stacked the glasses inside one another to make them easier to carry out, then leaned back against the counter and waited for Edward to get off the phone.

"Bella, he wants to talk to you again," Edward smiled at me and after handing me the phone carried out the bottles of pop to the living room.

"Hi dad?" I asked, wondering if he was actually going to come pick me up or not.

"Okay sweetie, Edward promised me he'd keep an eye on you, and drive you home himself if he thinks something's wrong. I still want you to call me first thing in the morning, I'm working the day shift tomorrow so you'll have a better chance of getting me at the station. Get some sleep Bella, love you kiddo," My dad actually sounded like he was still thinking of getting back in his car and coming down here.

"Thank you daddy, I love you too. I promise I'll call you as soon as I get up," I hung up the phone and jumped as I heard Edward chuckling behind me.

"So he's not going to turn on the siren to come pick you up?" he asked, laughing slightly as I stuck my tongue out at him.

Edward grabbed two of the bowls and asked me to carry the other bowl and the glasses. I followed and put them down on the table that was pushed back against the sofa Edward and I had been sitting on not that long ago.

Looking around the room I saw that both Alice and Rosalie had changed into rather short nightgowns and they were both going over a stack of DVDs, Emmett was sprawled out on the center air mattress and Jasper was on the one closest to the window facing the backyard, both of the guys had also gotten changed into sleep pants and t-shirts. Edward brought me over to the last air mattress which was closest to the entranceway and pulled me down to sit down beside him. I jumped when I heard Alice squeal quickly looked up and saw her _bouncing_ over to the TV where she put a disk in the DVD player before skipping back to where Jasper was sitting and put her head in his lap. Rosalie walked gracefully over where Emmett was laying and curled up beside him.

"Did you guys want a drink, since you've all gotten so comfortable?" Edward asked, throwing a pillow at Emmett's head, being careful not to hit Rosalie.

"That'd be great bro," Emmet tucked the pillow under his head, "I'll have some coke."

"Oooooh, Edward's getting drinks?" Alice perked right up, and Jasper chuckled as he pulled her into a sitting position between his legs and resting against his chest, "I'll have some sprite please…since I'm not supposed to have too much caffeine."

"I'll have some cream soda please, Edward," Rosalie said, playing with the TV remote, flicking through the channels, not starting the movie until everyone was settled.

"Sprite for me, Edward, if you don't mind that is?" Jasper looked over at Edward and laughed as he saw shock frozen on Edward's face.

Edward rolled his eyes and turned to face the table that was right behind the air mattresses and poured everyone's drinks before turning to me, "What would you like Bella?"

"Cream soda please, Edward," I said quietly, watching as he poured my drink and another coke for himself and turned back around. He handed me my drink and sat back down beside me.

"What movie did you girls pick anyway?" Edward asked, looking over at his sister and friend.

"Disturbia of course," Alice said, "Shia LaBeouf is soooo cute!"

I bit my lip and closed my eyes. Another horror movie, I was still trying not to think about the gruesome movie that Edward and I had watched earlier at my house. Edward must have either noticed what I was doing or had remembered that I didn't like horror movies because he took my drink and placed both mine and his on the table behind us and pulled be closer to him.

Rosalie was about to start the movie when we all heard the front door open, and I bit my lip, imagining whatever could be coming around the corner to get us, pulling myself closer to Edward. When I saw Dr. Cullen come walking around and into the living room, I couldn't help but breathe a small sigh of relief as I moved away from Edward, even as he laughed quietly under his breath.

"Ah, I see you've all met Bella, hello again Bella. Edward wasn't a bother was he?" Dr. Cullen asked, after saying hello to everyone else.

"Hello Dr. Cullen, and no, Edward wasn't a bother at all…I had fun today," I said, smiling up at him.

"That's good, and I'm glad to see you all getting along," He said goodnight to everyone as he turned to go upstairs where Esme was, but turned before he was completely out of the room, "Oh and Bella? Call me Carlisle, the other kids do," he smiled at all of us as he turned and left the room.

Rosalie immediately turned the movie on once Carlisle left the room, and Alice danced over to the light switch and turned off the lights and walked back over to sit with Jasper, surprisingly not tripping over anything like I would have.

Edward pulled me closer to his side again once the movie started, and I smiled up at him gratefully before hiding my face against his shirt. He gently pulled the blanket up around me as I tried my hardest to once again not pay attention to what was playing on the screen. Edward watched the movie, but every now and then he would pass me my drink so I wouldn't have to move, and I could feel myself slowly falling asleep, leaning against someone who I barely knew, yet I knew would be a good friend and, as a part of me hoped, much more.

**_Author's Note: I hope everone liked this chapter and don't be shy to ask questions or just let me know what you think. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon so I'll see you all soon so to speak :)_**


	9. Chapter 9

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own anything you may (or may not, however the case may be) recognize. I'm just playing with Ms. Meyer's characters, but I promise to give them back as soon as I'm done :)  
Author's Note: Hi again, thanks so much for all your lovely reviews and messages, I'm so glad you all seem to like it. So the next chapter should be up within a week, unless something huge comes up which right now doesn't seem likely. Love you all, and hope you like this chapter 3 . _**

**Chapter 9: Morning at the Cullen House**

I woke up, confused where I was and just why I was surrounded by so much _warmth_. I slowly lifted my head and saw that I was lying with my head resting on Edward's chest and he had both of his arms wrapped securely around me. I moved carefully to not wake him up as I looked around to see that everyone else was still asleep, and there were three empty chip bowls scattered throughout the room along with the empty pop bottles. I wondered just how long everyone else was awake for before they all finally crashed. I did, however, take comfort in the fact that I didn't have any nightmares brought on by the memories of Phil.

I couldn't quite get myself out of Edward's arms, and I found that the more I pulled away to try to get up, the closer he pulled me towards himself. I laughed softly as I settled myself back down, though I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. I lazily started to draw shapes on Edward's chest, daydreaming as I waited for someone else to wake up as well.

"Bella? Are you awake?" I twisted my head around and saw Rosalie fighting with Emmett's arm that was wound around her waist and his leg that was thrown over both her legs.

I laughed at how Emmett was spread out on his stomach taking up almost the whole air mattress as he was half laying on top of Rosalie, "Yeah, I'm awake," I whispered, slowly turning around in Edward's arms, being careful not to wake him up.

I jumped as I heard Jasper laughing from the other side of the room, "There's no need to whisper Bella, the Cullens are deep sleepers. It takes a lot to wake one of them up if they're not ready to get up," he gently got out from underneath Alice, who was using him as a pillow much like I was to Edward not even five minutes ago, and helped Rosalie with her fight to get out from under her boyfriend.

Edward rolled over, and I squealed as he brought me with him, so he was laying on his side with his back facing the others and I was held tightly to his chest, "Uh…could one of you help me please?"

Rosalie stood up and walked over, "Jasper, grab Bella."

"Ready Bella?" Jasper held onto my waist and pulled me up quickly as Rosalie held open Edward's arms and once I was out put a pillow into Edward's arms.

"Thank you Rosalie," I said, surprisingly keeping my balance, "and thank you Jasper."

"You're welcome Bella, but my friends all call me Rose and I'd like you to do the same," she smiled at me as we walked into the kitchen, "You'll see once school starts that I have a bit of a reputation to be a bitch…" She trailed off to give Jasper a look as he tried to choke back a laugh, "But that's only when I don't like a person or the mess with my friends, and while I may not have many people I can truly call friends but I can already tell that you and I will be pretty close."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me," I said, looking at two of the people who welcomed me so willingly into their world, with practically no questions asked.

We sat around the kitchen table and as we were talking I realized that while they were twins, the Hales had completely different personalities. We sat talking for a little over an hour until Edward came walking into the room, running his hands through his hair.

"Good morning Edward," Rose said, "Are you trying a new hairstyle? It really doesn't do much for you."

Edward just rolled his eyes as he came over to sit beside me, with his arm resting on the back of my chair, "Shut up Rose, it's too early to deal with you right now."

Jasper looked at me and rolled his eyes as the other two continued to bicker back and forth. They argued amongst themselves as Jasper and I talked quietly, but I couldn't fully concentrate on either of the conversations going on around me, my full attention was captured by the fact that I could feel Edward playing with the ends of my hair.

"Bella," my head swivelled around to look at Edward, "Did you call your dad this morning?"

I gasped as I remembered that I had promised to call as soon as I woke up, "Uh…no, I completely forgot all about it. Would I be able to use the phone?"

Before I had even finished asking the phone was gently being pressed into my hand. I dialled the number to the Police Station and placed the phone against my ear. I asked the lady who answered on the other end to speak to Charlie Swan, and once my dad answered I immediately reassured him I was fine and that I didn't need him to come get me. He didn't believe me that the rest of the night went without a hitch and just like the day before he asked to speak to Edward.

Whatever it was that Edward was telling him, must have been exactly what my dad wanted to hear since he didn't try to talk to me again and Edward was able to hang up after only two minutes.

"So Bella, are you coming shopping with Alice and I today?" Rose asked, leaning over the table with a grin on her face.

"I HEARD SHOPPING!" Alice came bounding into the room, sliding on the tile floor, and Jasper had to grab her before she slid into the counter.

"Not today Rose," Edward said, "I already promised Bella I would show her around more."

"Please, Edward?" Alice pouted, and I kept my mouth shut and looked away because I knew that if I made eye contact I would give in right away.

"No, Alice," Edward said, glaring at his sister, "You and Rose can go on your own."

"Fine, but then Bella has to come with us tomorrow. We'll go for new school wardrobes," Alice started bouncing in her seat.

Edward just shook his head, "We'll see Alice, I'm not going to promise anything," He stood up and helped me up as well, "Bella, come on, we'll go upstairs and get ready to go," we walked through to the staircase when Edward looked back, "Oh, and Rose, you might want to go wake up Emmett, start now and he might be up my lunchtime."

Rose threw Edward a look, "Bite me, Cullen."

Edward just shook his head as the two of us walked upstairs back to his room.

"Thank you for last night, Edward," I sad, as I looked through my bag for a change of clothes.

"You're welcome, you didn't have any nightmares or anything did you? You didn't seem like it but I just wanted to be sure," Edward, too, had gotten out fresh clothes for the day.

"None at all," I smiled at him, "So where are we going today?"

"Well, I did say we'd go to a grocery store…but we can do that last so that the food doesn't go bad before we get back to your house. I was thinking I would show you around town, where the bookstore is, good restaurants…there's nothing really interesting here in Forks or Port Angeles. If you like we can drive to Seattle before school starts, and I'm pretty sure that's where Alice will be taking you shopping," Edward said as he pointed the way towards the bathroom.

"Um…for now would it be okay to just stay as close to home as possible? I think I'd be more comfortable staying near where I know my dad is," I hesitantly looked up at Edward.

"Sure thing, whatever you're comfortable with. I'll even tell Alice to hold off on the shopping trip for a while if you like, or somehow convince her to let me tag along with you guys. For today however, we can go to Port Angeles, it's close and they have a strip of stores and the grocery store is here in Forks and we can stop there on the way back home," he nodded, and I walked into the bathroom.

I quickly changed out of my pjs and into a pair of black skinny jeans and a red t-shirt. Brushing my hair I pulled it into a high ponytail so it was out of my face and off of my neck. I brushed my teeth and washed my face before looking over myself in the mirror. I figured I was presentable and so I walked back from the bathroom to Edward's room.

I knocked on the bedroom door, only to have Edward swing it open not even two seconds later.

"Go on ahead and sit down if you like, I just have to go brush my teeth and whatever before we go," Edward gently gave me a shove towards his bed as he walked passed me and through the bathroom door.

Instead of sitting on the bed, I walked over to where he had practically a whole wall just filled with more CD's than I've ever seen in one place, if not in my entire life. I slowly started browsing through the many titles, many of which I didn't recognize, and I noticed that he didn't seem to have just one preferred type of music and instead there was a wide variety of different genres spread out along the wall.

"Hey, ready to go?" I jumped when I heard Edward from behind me, spinning around I saw that he was closer than I though. How had I not heard him walk over?

"Uh, yeah, yeah I'm ready. I do have to run home to get money for the groceries though," I said, biting my lip slightly.

"That's no problem, it's actually on the way," Edward walked over to his closet and pulled out a black hoodie, which he didn't put on but carried with him, I gave him an odd look, "I keep on in the car in case it's colder than I thought or if I forget one at home. It's a habit I got into in the winter; the one that was in the car is in the laundry."

"It's a good idea, but it's the summer…how cold is it going to get?" I laughed slightly as I picked up my bag.

"You never know. Alice says it's going to be getting cooler today, and I've learned to never bet against Alice," He reached over and took my bag from me, "Now, shall we get going before Alice and Rose somehow kidnap you to take you shopping?"

I glared at his back as he walked ahead of me, laughing loudly to himself the whole way.

As we passed by the kitchen I saw Esme searching for something in one of the cupboards. I turned quickly and walked beside her, "Thank you for last night Esme."

She surprised me by pulling me into a quick hug, "You're very welcome sweetheart. If you ever need anything don't hesitate to come find me."

I nodded and turned around to see Edward leaning against the door frame, a crooked grin spread across his face, "C'mon Bella."

I smiled up at him as I put on my shoes and the two of us headed out the door to his car.

**_A/N: Okay I know this is a fairly short chapter, but I already have the next two typed and I believe they're both longer than this one, and chapter 10 should be posted within the week. Okay, so that's it for this time around, please leave a comment, they make me happy and give me encouragement to make me keep writing. Or if you have a question about something PM me and I'll get back to you almost right away :) . See you all next time around 3 . _**


	10. Chapter 10

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer:_** I don't own anything you recognize, such as characters or setting, but I assure you the plot is entirely mine.  
**_A/N:_** Hey guys...I know it's later than I promised, but it's just a couple of days over a week isn't it? Anyways I was going to post this tomorrow, but I'm waiting for my next class to start so I figured I'd give it to you now as I've made you wait long enough. I love you guys and the reviews and PMs you've sent me. I'm glad you all seem to like it so much. As for the Harry Potter stories I've been working on, Standing in the Rain and Where He Belongs, I haven't forgotten about them, but both of them are stuck at a point that there's so many things I could do with them, that I just don't know what to do, but I should have a new chapter for each of them up possibly by the end of the month. Okay so you know the drill, read the chapter and if there's any questions, comments or comments about this chapter or the story in general don't be afraid to ask and since I'm on the computer at almost all times of the day I'll get back to you almost immediately. I love you guys .

**Chapter 10: Disasters Will Work Out**

True to his word, Edward stopped by the house and I laughed when I saw that my dad had left grocery money on the table along with a note:

_Bella, I know that there isn't all that much food-wise in the house, I figured as much when I saw you of all people eating pizza yesterday when I know you love to cook. I'm not good at buying groceries, especially not for other people, and I overheard Edward offering to drive you today, so hopefully you'll be alright, if anything don't hesitate to call me at the station. Love you kiddo, take care._

_-Dad. _

I pocketed the money and took my bag from an unwilling Edward to bring it upstairs. After throwing the bag onto my bed, I slowly made my way downstairs, yet still managed to trip, not even on a stair, but I must have misjudged the number to stairs because my feet went to keep going downstairs and I would have fallen if Edward hadn't have grabbed me around the waist.

"Aren't you supposed to fall down the stairs, and not on a flat surface?" He asked, keeping one arm around my waist as we walked back out of the house, me locking the door behind us.

"My feet really don't need a reason to work against me," I grinned up at him, but let out a slight scream when he unexpectedly lifted me up bridal style, "What are you _doing_?"

"Well we don't want to give your feet another chance to attempt to reacquaint you with the floor so I figured this was safer. Don't worry, I'll put you back down once we get to the car," He continued to laugh at me as I gave up fighting his hold on me, I was terrified I would cause us both to fall to the ground.

He put me down beside the passenger side door and opened the door for me. I thanked him and slid into the car and Edward, ever the gentlemen, closed my door before walking around to his own side. Edward got into the car and pulled out of the driveway. I tried to memorize the turns he made as we drove along, but I knew that I wouldn't have remembered it if anyone asked me.

Edward pulled up against a curb and parked the car and before I could get out he was already out and around at my side and was opening the door. I smiled up at him and he gently draped his arm around my shoulders.

"This strip of stores is pretty small so we can pretty much walk from store to store if you like," Edward began walking down the line of shops.

"Sounds good, the weather's good for now, though Alice was right, it is cooler today, but bareable. I'm actually surprised I haven't seen it rain here yet since I've been here," I said, looking up at the cloudy sky.

Edward just laughed, "Don't jinx it, I think this is the longest that it hasn't rained in Forks in a long time. Did you want the sweater?"

"Nah, I'm alright, and no more talking about how nice the weather is…got it," I grinned up at him and he just laughed harder and pulled me closer.

"Alright, so the bookstore, a couple of small clothing stores, and a teashop are all here in Port Angeles. It's not the biggest collection of stores, and there's a larger mall which is in Seattle, but this here is closer to us and this bookstore, I think anyway, is better than the one in the mall," he pointed towards a small cozy looking bookstore that looked more like a lounge, "Do you like Italian food?"

"Of course," by now I had my arm wrapped around his waist.

"Well there's a good Italian restaurant here, Bella Italia. If you like we can go there sometime?" He looked down at me and I had a glimmer of hope that no matter how fast I was falling for him, that he might feel a small amount of that back for me, but then I immediately reprimanded myself for that. After all there's no way that someone like him would ever feel anything for someone like me.

I realized I hadn't answered him, and he was probably waiting for some type of response, "Sure, that sounds great."

He grinned and continued to lead the way past all the stores, but suddenly he froze and spun us around back in the direction we came from that I was surprised I didn't end up with whiplash. I looked up at him, trying to catch his eye but his jaw was tense and his eyes had a scary glint in them.

"Edward?" I tried to keep up with his long strides, but I ended up tripping over my own two feet.

Edward caught me but instead of putting me back on the ground, he scooped me up into his arms and carried me back to the car. Opening my door he put me sideways in the seat so that my legs were hanging outside the door and he surprised me by crouching down in front of me.

"Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself when you tripped?" He asked, checking both my ankles.

"I'm fine," I looked at him curiously, "Edward, is something wrong?"

He tucked my legs in the car and ran around to his side. I could only watch as he climbed in, started the car, and quickly drove out away from the plaza strip. He seemed tense and didn't relax until we couldn't see any trace of where we had just been. Once his muscles relaxed and his grip on the steering wheel loosened he pulled over to the side of the road and shut off the car. Edward had his head in his hands and I could see his hands gripping and pulling at his hair.

"I just saw someone that I don't get a long with _at all_. Every time we see each other, I don't know what it is, it's just always one big fight between us. Well each of our groups I suppose. I didn't want you getting caught up in the middle of that. They don't go to Forks High though, not sure where exactly they go. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but I had to get out of there quickly before he saw us," Edward told me all of this without looking lifting his head.

I carefully pried the closest hand to me away from his head and held it in both of mine, "It's fine, Edward…and in the long run what just happened would probably be better than if he _had_ seen us. And you didn't scare me. I was worried, but not for myself. I thought something had happened and I was worried for _you_."

"Don't worry about me, please? Let me take care of you," He looked up and gave me a shaky smile, pulling his hand away from mine to turn the car back on and put it in drive. He took a deep breath before pulling back onto the road.

I was looking out the window, watching tree upon tree pass by when I felt something grab my hand. I looked down and saw that Edward had taken my hand in his but kept them both in my lap. I smiled softly before turning my attention back to the window. Before I knew it Edward was pulling his hand away so he could pull into a parking lot near a rather large grocery store.

"There are a couple of small towns in the area so we all flock to this one store," he explained, laughing quietly at my confused look, "So, do you have a list or at least have an idea of what you need?"

The two of us climbed out of the car, and I smiled to myself as I managed to get out before he could get himself around to my side to open the door for me, "You saw the condition of the food supply that my dad has…I'm going to have to basically start from scratch."

He nodded, "That's probably true. Shall we then?" He offered me his arm and we both laughed as I hooked mine through his.

Edward grabbed a cart and we walked through the isles, and I grabbed what I would need for at home. I felt bad for making Edward do this, but not once throughout the entire trip did he complain about anything. I ran through a mental checklist, and once I was sure that we had picked up everything that my dad and I would need we headed towards the checkouts. I paid for the food and Edward helped me carry the bags back to the car. Well…helping would be stretching it, he carried the almost all of the bags and only let me carry two of the lightest bags.

We climbed back into the car and went back to the house, talking quietly to one another, about little things, nothing really important until we pulled into the driveway. I got out, taking the two bags I was allowed to carry with me as Edward pulled all the other bags out of the backseat of the car. I climbed the porch steps and unlocked the front door. The two of us took off our shoes and dropped off the bags at the kitchen table.

"Need any help?" Edward asked as I started to put away the groceries.

"No thank you, you've already helped more than enough, Edward. Just sit down I'll be done in a minute," I said, as I continued to put things away.

It took slightly longer than I assumed it would have because I wasn't quite sure where my dad kept everything, although there wasn't much to begin with so I assumed that most of what I had bought wouldn't have a regular place anyway. Edward sat patiently as he waited for me to finish. I looked over at him and saw him watching my every move, and I quickly ducked my head as I put something in a bottom cupboard so that my hair would cover the blush that I could feel spreading across my face. I finished up and turned to Edward who had a slight smirk on his face, making me believe that he had seen my blush despite my attempts to hide it.

"What would you like for lunch?" I asked, leaning back against the counter.

"You don't have to make me lunch, Bella," He shook his head as he stood up and walked to stand in front of me.

"I want to," I looked up at him, smiling, "Please? I don't know how else to thank you for everything, and besides you have to be hungry?"

"You don't have to thank me for anything, I wanted to do those things for you," Edward ran his hands through his hair, "And if you're making something anyway then I'll have whatever you're having."

I grinned and got out some bread, cheese, butter, and a can of tomato soup, "Grilled cheese and tomato soup it is. It's something that my dad used to always have when I was younger, didn't use a spoon for the soup until there were no more sandwiches."

Edward grinned down at me, "Sounds delicious."

I quickly made us a pot of soup and both of us two sandwiches. I was just finishing up the last sandwich when the front door opened. Startled, I jumped and ended up burning my hand on the frying pan. Edward jumped up from where he was leaning on the counter to pull the frying pan off of the burner and pulled my hand towards him.

He had just finished looking at the palm of my hand that was quickly turning red and he gently placed it under some cold water when my dad walked into the kitchen.

My dad's eyes quickly caught sight of my hand and went to get some Vaseline to put on it, prevent it from blistering and scarring, "What happened?"

I winced as he wrapped a bandage around my hand, "The sound of the door startled me…I'm okay dad," I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek, "I've had worse. Anyways I was just finishing up mine and Edward's lunch, did you want some?"

He nodded so I made a couple more sandwiches and dished out our lunch. The three of us sat around the small table, me sitting with Edward on one side and my dad on the other. It was silent as we ate, but it wasn't an awkward silence, it was surprisingly comfortable for the three of us to be sitting here like this.

We finished and I started to clean up as my dad led Edward into the living room to try and find a sport on TV. Once I was done I walked in to find my dad on his recliner and Edward looked comfortable sitting on the sofa. Edward pulled me into his lap as I walked passed him and I jumped slightly in shock, and giggled when he poked my side. He continued to tickle me as I squirmed to try to get out of his hold, looking at my dad for help but he was too busy laughing at me himself.

Edward finally stopped when I could feel my face ready to pop because of all the blood rushing to it due to my lack of breath, "I'm sorry, are you okay?" he pulled me to sit properly on his lap.

I only glared at him and crossed my arms across my chest.

My dad shook his head at us and returned to flipping through the channels, "Please be careful Edward…I would like to keep my daughter for a while longer at least."

"Yes sir," he wrapped his arms around my waist and, since my back was to him he could quite easily rest his chin on my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes as I looked back at my dad, "I thought you had to work today? What are you doing home so early?"

"Slow day, I'm on call so if they need me I'll go, but otherwise they can handle anything that comes up," he finally found a baseball game that was on and it captured his complete attention.

I nodded as I tried to get out of Edward's grasp, but instead of letting me go he just seemed to hold on tighter. I couldn't help but blush as I finally relaxed into the unexpected embrace. Edward pulled me back into his chest and I was surprised that my dad didn't say anything about it, I was surprisingly comfortable though and it didn't feel as awkward as one might think. I played with his fingers as I tried to figure out what was going on in the game, but I wasn't able to figure it out for the life of me, Edward didn't seem to have the same problem and soon he was as lost to the world as my dad was.

After the game Edward said it was time for him to start heading home so we both stood up and after he and my dad said their goodbyes I walked him to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, I'll convince Emmett and Jasper to talk the girls into letting us guys come along with you girls," Edward pulled on his shoes.

"Okay," I bit my lip, "Where we're going isn't too far from here is it?"

"Kind of," he squeezed my hand gently, "If at all you feel uncomfortable just let me know and we'll leave. This is one of the reasons why I am going to be sure that the guys and I go with you."

"Thank you, Edward. You really didn't have to do all of this for me, but I really appreciate it," I gave him a quick hug before I lost my nerve and opened the front door.

I walked out onto the porch and leaned against the rail as I watched Edward walked down to his car, but he surprised me by backtracking so he was standing in front of me, slightly shorter than me as he was on the other side of the railing, and kissed me on the cheek before getting in his car and driving away.

I walked back into the living room in a daze. I jumped when I felt my dad pull me down to sit across his lap, and I smiled as the two of us sat the way we used to when I was younger. Smiling, I rested my head against his chest and listened to the sound of his heartbeat.

"Is there something you would like to tell me about you and Edward, Bells?" he asked, and I could feel myself begin to blush.

"There's nothing to tell Dad, we're just friends," I started to pick at a loose thread on the arm of his shirt.

"But-?" That's something I've always loved about my dad, we may not express how we feel to one another, but he always seemed to be able to pick up on what I was thinking.

"But, I don't know, Dad. I mean we just met right?" I looked up at him as he tightened his arms around my waist.

"Sometimes that doesn't matter, Kiddo," he kissed the top of my head as the two of us stood up, "If anything, just know that Edward is a good kid and he already seems to care a lot about you. Now, what do you say that we call it a night?"

"Okay," I followed him up the stairs, but before I turned to go to my room I quickly hugged my dad and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you daddy, I missed just talking to you."

"I've missed everything about you sweetie. Now, go get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow morning," he kissed me on the forehead and gave me a gentle shove into my room.

I quickly got ready for bed and the last thing that crossed my mind before sleep claimed me was the emerald green colour of Edward's eyes.

**_A/N: _**Okay, hopefully you all liked that, and if there's any questions, comments or concerns feel free to let me know and I'll get back to you. Thanks for reading and the next chapter should be up by the end of next week. Love ya .****


	11. Chapter 11

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you may or may not recognize.  
A/N: Okay, I know it's not that long, but there's more of them at the mall in the next chapter and I'll put that up before the end of the week as it's a two peice thing, but I figured I've made you guys wait long enough for this chapter so here you go. _**

**Chapter 11: A Trip to the Mall Part 1**

I woke up early the next morning when my dad knocked on my bedroom door.

"Bella, wake up Kiddo. The Cullens are here and Alice says you're all going shopping today. There's money on the table for you. I have to go to the station to get through some paperwork, but I shouldn't be long. If you need anything just call," he leaned over and kissed my forehead, "I'd hurry up though, otherwise they might end up coming up here to help you get ready."

We both laughed as he left and I went to my closet to pick out my clothes for the day. I finally settled on a light pink t-shirt with green detailing, along with a pair of jean capris. I crossed the hall to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth. I decided on leaving my hair down so it was slightly curled at the ends I threw on a green headband before going back to my room to grab my purse before heading downstairs. I grabbed the money off the kitchen table and put it in my purse and left it by the front door.

Walking into the living room I saw Edward, Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rose sitting with Emmett and Alice fighting over the TV remote. Rose laughed as she pulled me down to sit beside her. Jasper smiled over at me and Edward came to sit on the arm of the couch with his arm resting behind me.

Jasper quickly got Alice's attention and she bounced her way over to me only to pull me off of the couch and to the door. I pulled on my green flats and followed everyone out the door, locking the door behind us.

The guys helped us into Emmett's Jeep with Rose sitting in the passenger's seat, Alice and Jasper on the middle bench and Edward and I in the back. Edward pulls me into his side, with an arm wrapped around my waist. I smile as I rest my head against his shoulder and sigh as I feel his fingers thread through my hair.

"Tired?" He looked down at me and I blinked lazily back up at him.

"A little, what time is it anyway?" I realized I didn't even know what time it was when my dad woke me up this morning, "I've never been awake before my dad goes into the station."

Edward chuckled, "It's actually only seven in the morning."

I groaned and buried my face in Edward's shoulder, "That's it?"

"I promise, I'll try my best to be sure that this doesn't go all day," Edward whispered, probably scared for Alice or Rose to hear, "And remember, if you get uncomfortable just let me know and we'll go home, okay?"

"Thank you," I closed my eyes and felt myself slowly drifting to sleep.

"Bells?" I felt someone running their fingers through my hair, "We're there."

"Wakey Wakey sleepyhead," I opened one eye to see Emmett grinning at me from where he was standing outside the Jeep with everyone else, and Edward sitting beside me with his fingers running through my hair.

I blushed as Edward carefully helped me step down into Emmett's outstretched arms so I could get out. Edward deftly jumped out behind me and instantly grabbed my hand in his own as we all followed Alice who was skipping and dragging Rose into the mall.

"Where exactly are we?" I asked Edward, not sure how long I was asleep for.

"In Seattle, it's the nearest mall and since Alice and Rose prefer not to shop in Port Angeles, we make frequent stops here throughout the year," Edward explained, and I could see Jasper and Emmett shudder beside me.

"Is it really that bad?" The guys all looked at me as if I had asked if the sky is really blue, "Okay…I guess it is then."

Edward just laughed and draped his arm over my shoulders, "It'll be worse for you though…to them you're fresh meat."

I groaned and the three of them laughed at me and Edward had to practically drag me to get me to keep walking.

"Are you guys _coming_?" Alice was standing in front of the mall doors impatiently tapping her foot and Rose was standing behind her quietly laughing to herself.

I looked up to see Edward roll his eyes at his impatient little sister but all the same quicken his pace. All too soon for my liking we were being led to the first store that Alice and Rose both declared necessary to visit. And that's the last thing I can clearly remember until Emmett childishly sat on the ground and declared for the entire mall to hear that he wasn't going into any more stores until he was fed.

I laughed as Alice grudgingly agreed that we could have a short lunch break. I sighed in relief as we made it to the food court and immediately sat down in the nearest chair. Edward chuckled as he put down my bags that he refused to let me carry and sat beside me. I felt sorry for Emmett and Jasper however, as I only had three bags while Alice and Rose _each_ had at least ten. We all settled around a table and they all argued about what everyone should get to eat. I contentedly let them all try to decide and tiredly let my head fall onto Edward's shoulder.

"You alright?" he asked, draping an arm on the back of my chair.

"Yeah, just tired," I replied, trying to tune out the arguing around me.

He laughed, "I know, you're not exactly used to their shopping style. Rest now, after this it's pretty much non-stop until either their finished or the mall's closed…whichever comes first, and usually it's all the stores kicking them out."

I laughed softly, and then jumped when I heard a loud bang. I looked up to see Alice standing with both hands flat on the table glaring angrily at Emmett.

"Fine, just _fine_ Emmett, you can go right on ahead and order the damn pizza. I am _so_ sorry for wanting something different for a change," Alice glared at Emmett while he just shrugged and got up.

"You don't mess with the classics Alice. C'mon Jazz, Edward, let's go get it," Emmett walked away, leaving Jasper and Edward little choice to follow him or not.

Alice glared after them as they walked away before skipping around the table to come sit on my lap, "All I did was suggest that we get teriyaki instead of pizza and he like totally freaked out at me. Was I wrong Bella?"

I made the mistake of looking down to see her face, and immediately I was met with the most convincing set of puppy dog eyes I've ever seen, "No Alice, but guys don't see things that way."

Rose laughed, "Especially Emmett, Alice don't worry we'll have a girls' night and eat all the Thai food you want."

"Yay!" Alice bounced up and down on my lap, "Can we do it soon? Bella, when would your dad let you stay over again?"

"I don't know, I'd have to ask," I honestly didn't know if my dad would feel comfortable with me staying over at their house again soon, he panicked too much the last time.

"Ask who what?" Emmett bounded back to the table with two boxes with a couple of plates on top balanced in his hands with Jasper and Edward following at a much more relaxed pace, each holding three cans of soda.

Rose and I just shook our heads as Alice skipped around the table, back to her seat where she decided to sit in Jasper's lap instead.

Edward sat down beside me again and glanced at his sister out of the corner of his eye as he leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Should I be worried?"

I laughed slightly, "I don't _think_ so, but Alice was upset so Rose promised her a girls' night…so I think _I _should be the one who's worried?"

Edward shook his head as he laughed, "So I take it that you were talking about asking your dad?"

I nodded, "I'm not sure if he would feel comfortable with it…he was in his car ready to come pick me up two nights ago," I looked up at Edward as he handed me a cream soda, "Thanks."

"I figured you liked, it, you picked it a couple nights ago. Anyways only ask if _you_ feel comfortable. If anything I'll be home if you need anything, I mean I live there and it's not like Alice can kick me out," He grinned down at me, and I smiled back.

"Thanks, that really helps," We each grabbed a slice of Pizza and paid attention to Emmett's story about the pranks he was planning for when school started, and I was shocked to realize that Monday was just two days away.

"What grade are you going into Bella?" Alice asked, making a face as she ate a slice of pizza.

"I'll be in my final year of high school," I sighed, not liking the disappointed look Alice now had on her face, "But I selected a couple of electives from the grade 11 list, so if they have the same courses here in Forks then I'm still planning on taking them."

Alice smiled widely, "Okay, so we might still have classes together?"

"Well one of those classes is music, I've been learning how to play the clarinet. Are you taking a percussion music course?" I asked, wishing I could make Alice happy.

"No, I _am_ going to be taking the violin and since Forks is a small town and there aren't many students to take the electives, they put together the ones that are very similar. So that means that they put all the music classes together," Alice bounced in her seat before skipping around the table and sitting in my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck in a tight hug.

Everyone laughed as Alice made herself comfortable and pulled her plate and drink towards her. I ignored them though, glad that Alice wasn't upset anymore.

"We all actually take that class," Rose said, taking a sip from her drink, "Alice plays the violin, Jazz the electric guitar, Emmett plays the drums, Edward can play either the piano or the keyboard, and I play the flute."

The guys all nodded, but pretty much ignored what we were talking about so Rose got up and made Edward switch seats with her, "What other courses did you pick for this year, Bella?"

"English, biology, basic math, Spanish, creative writing, chemistry, and art," I said, "And of course percussion instrument."

"Okay, that actually sounds pretty good. The only thing is though that everyone has to take gym and we don't have a creative writing class at Forks High," Rose finished off her pizza and made a face as Emmett stuffed a whole slice of pizza in his mouth and the other guys laughed at him.

I wondered if you would have a creative writing course, but do I _have_ to take gym? I'll only end up putting myself and everyone near me in the emergency room," I groaned, physical education and me really don't mix, for obvious reasons, "And chemistry is something I decided to take at the last minute that I haven't taken before…are you taking chem. Alice?"

"Yay!" she turned to give me another hug, ignoring the rest of her pizza, "We are going to have so much fun!"

Rose laughed at the two of us, "There are two English classes, so I can't be sure who'll be in your class, but Emmett signed up for the basic math class, I take Spanish, Jasper and Edward both take art, and Edward is in biology," She smiled, "So at least you'll know someone in all of your classes. Oh, and we'll be in your gym class as well, with so little students they didn't have a choice but to make it a co-ed class…so if you're going to send everyone to the emergency room, please try to spare me?" Rose laughed at me, "Don't worry, I'll try to be sure for any partner activities that we're together so that you'll stand a chance."

"Thanks," I rested my head on Alice's shoulder, "It does help to know that I won't be stuck in classes on my own."

"Emmy?" Alice had already started the puppy-dog eyes before Emmett lifted his head from his food to look at her, "Can you pack that up and bring it with you? I don't feel like sitting here any more."

"Sure," he sighed and started to pack up the food, "I'll just go bring this to the car…actually Ed, Jazz, come with me, we'll bring the bags as well."

Edward and Jasper nodded, and helped to carry Rose's bags as well since Emmett's hands were full. Edward leaned down to whisper in my ear before they walked away, "I'll be quick, promise," standing up he spoke so Alice and Rose could hear him as well, "Wait here so we don't have to search through the whole mall for you guys."

He smiled at me before following Emmett and Jasper out of the mall.

**_A/N: Thanks for reading, and not to worry the next chapter's almost finished but I wanted to get this up. Like always if there's any questions feel free to drop a review or PM me and I'll get back to you almost instantaneously. Love you guys and the awsome feedback I've been getting. So I'll have the next half up in the next day or so probably. See ya next time *hugs*. _**


	12. Chapter 12

_Starting Anew_

**Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry it took so long...yesterday when I actually wanted this up I went out to my friend's place and didn't get home until two in the morning and earlier tonight I was baking a cake for this family thing I have to go to tomorrow...or later today *shrugs I guess it doesn't matter*. Okay so you know the drill by now if there's anything that needs clarifying or if there's something you want to comment on leave a review and I'll get back to you as quickly as possible  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you may or may not recognize that belongs to Stephenie Meyer I'm just borrowing the characters and putting them in weird situations**

**Chapter 12: A Trip to the Mall Part 2**

Alice pouted, "They would find us eventually. Do we really have to wait here?"

"Yes, Alice," Rose rolled her eyes, "They can't navigate their way through a mall, if we don't wait here they'd be looking for us for hours."

"But that's okay, they complain too much anyways, we'd get so much more done without them. Right, Bella?" Alice turned towards me.

"Yeah, I guess so," I didn't know what else to say.

"Whether it's true or not isn't the point, Al," Rose rested her feet on the chair opposite her, "If they come back and we're gone and they can't find us, they'll panic. Remember last time? They all forgot we had our cell phones on us and were running around the mall like chickens with their heads cut off. Security almost kicked them all out of the mall."

I giggled and Alice just crossed her arms and bounced impatiently in my lap.

As we waited, I let my thoughts drift and surprisingly, considering everything that's happened in less than a week, my thoughts focussed on Edward. There's no denying that he's gorgeous, anyone with eyes could tell you that, but there was something about him that pulled me to him. I mentally slapped myself, here I am practically obsessing over a guy that is so perfect that it is just impossible for him _not_ to have a girlfriend.

I was so lost in my thoughts that when I felt someone grab my shoulder I jumped and almost knocked poor Alice off. I looked up to see Edward staring down at me worriedly.

"Okay Alice, you can get up now, we're ready to move on now," Edward smiled at his sister and helped her up before helping me up as well, leaning down to whisper to me, "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I smiled up at him, laughing as I linked our arms together and we followed Alice and Rose through the mall to the next store, with Emmett and Jasper goofing off behind us.

Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulder as we walked, and I wasn't really paying attention to where we were headed until I almost fell when Emmett grabbed me from behind and tried to use me as a human shield. I glanced back at him and tried not to laugh like Edward and Jasper at the thought of someone as big as Emmett using me to hide behind.

"I am _not_ going in that demon store," he shouted, pulling me away from Edward and slowly backing up.

I looked up at the sign above the store Alice and Rose were about to walk into and immediately I agreed with Emmett and willingly let him pull me to a bench where he sat with me in his lap. I glared at the bright pink Victoria Secret sign that was shining down at us.

"We'll just wait here Rosie," he said, making both of us comfortable.

"But, we need Bella to come with us," Alice frowned at her brother, then turned her eyes on me, "Bella, come on."

"No way, Alice, I'll wait here too. I am staying as far away from that store as humanly possible," I made sure not to look her in the eye as I said it, knowing I would break if I looked into her puppy dog eyes.

Rose smiled at me slightly, "Bella can wait there with the guys if she wants to Alice, you're good at guessing sizes, you're almost always right, so you can pick her up something."

"Oh my God, you're right…let's go Rose!" She bounced her way into the store, pulling Rose behind her laughing.

I groaned as I realized what Rose did, "Why?"

"It was either that or Alice would have dragged you in there with them. I must say Bella, you're quite different than the two of them, maybe hanging around you will rein in their obsessive shopping habits," Emmett laughed messing up my hair.

Edward rolled his eyes and pulled me off of Emmett's lap, instead sitting down with me in his own lap, "That's never going to happen Emmett and you know it."

"He's got a point," Jasper agreed and sat on Edward's other side, "But then again without that they wouldn't be…them."

"And that's just fine, as long as I'm not being dragged to go with them," Emmett muttered, and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Are we almost done though?" I asked, looking at them from one to the other, "I mean, how much more shopping can they do?"

Jasper just shook his head, "You'd be surprised. They're keeping it fairly tame today."

I groaned as Edward just laughed at me and shifted me slightly so I was sitting sideways with my back facing Emmett and my head was resting on Edward's chest, right over his heart. It was calming and I felt myself drifting in and out of attention, not quite falling asleep, but my awareness to my surroundings was pretty much gone. I faintly felt some sort of tugging on my hair, but it would mean moving to look at what it was so I just didn't bother.

"Are you alright?" Edward leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired I guess," I whispered back.

"Okay, well we have a while, want to try to get some sleep?" he asked.

I shot my head to see if he was actually being serious, only to have my head be pulled back down. I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out and flinched away from the hand I felt resting on my head. I could hear voices talking around me but I couldn't understand what they were saying, it was almost as if I had wads of cotton stuffed in my ears, causing everything around me to be muffled. I heard the soothing heartbeat underneath my right ear and I was startled into realizing that I was still sitting on Edward's lap and I could hear a rumbling in his chest as he talked to his brother and Jasper in hushed whispers. Breathing out a sigh of relief I curled myself tighter into Edward's chest and felt him tighten his arms around my waist.

"Are you okay?" he looked down so he could see my face.

I started to nod, but he just raised his eyebrow at me and shot me a suggestive look, so I reluctantly shook my head no.

"Alright, we'll leave as soon as Alice and Rose come out," Edward said, shifting us so I was sitting on one of his knees instead of both and I was now sitting with my face against his shoulder and he had one hand running through my hair. I could feel him untangling something and I tried to turn my head to look at what he was doing, but he gently kept my head the way it was, "Emmett was trying to braid your hair, that's what the pull on your head was earlier. He didn't do a good job either, so I'm just getting rid of it."

I nodded and wrapped my arms around his waist, trying to calm down the memories of Phil that this had brought up.

"I'm so sorry Bella," I heard Emmett whisper from behind me.

"It's okay Emmett, it's not your fault," my voice was muffled by Edward's shirt, "Edward I'll be okay, I don't want to ruin the day for the others," I whispered the last part, not wanting the other two to hear.

"Don't worry about that right now, I promised that if you got uncomfortable I'd take you home," Edward whispered back, before raising his voice so the other guys could hear him, "Emmett take Bella for a couple of minutes, I'm going to go grab the girls. I think we should call it a day."

I giggled slightly as I heard Emmett and Jasper both sigh in relief before I felt myself being handed over to Emmett who held me like one would hold a small child.

"You're a brave man, Edward," Jasper said dramatically, "I wouldn't be caught dead in that place."

I saw Edward roll his eyes at Jasper before he turned to me, "I'll be back in a couple of minutes…keep these two out of trouble for me though, please?"

I laughed and nodded as both Emmett and Jasper stuck their tongues out at him. As Edward walked away, I could feel both Jasper and Emmett watching me, probably looking to see what was wrong.

"You okay Bella?" Jasper asked, reaching out to tuck a stray hair behind my ear.

"Yeah," I bit my lip slightly, "I'll tell you guys about it eventually, but I don't think I'm ready yet."

"That's fine, whenever you're ready or if you just want to talk, we're here," Emmett said, just as Edward walked back out of the store, albeit with a disgusted look on his face, with both Alice and Rose in tow.

I whispered a quick thank you to the two guys as they both engulfed me in a group hug. I hugged them both back, right before Emmett stood up, bringing me up with him. Placing me down to stand on my own two feet, Emmett walked around me to take Rose's three pink bags, and Jasper took all five of Alice's and shook his head before kissing her cheek. Edward just stood off to the side, shaking his head at his siblings and friends before walking to wrap an arm around my shoulders.

"Did you call your dad to let him know what happened?" he whispered, leaning down to whisper in my ear.

"No, I didn't," I leaned away slightly to look at him, "And he doesn't need to know either!"

"Yes, he does," Edward smirked, "Now may I please see your phone Bella? If you won't call him then I will."

I shook my head, "No, then he'll just worry until I get home. I'll tell him face to face, it'll probably be better that way so he doesn't over-react."

Edward sighed, but agreed, "Fine, is he going to be there when we get back?"

All I could do was shrug, "He said he only had to go in for a little bit this morning so I _think_ he should be home."

We followed the other four through the mall and out to Emmett's Jeep. The guys loaded up the back with the last of Rose and Alice's purchases before we all piled in and Edward pulled me into his side, holding my hand in one of his as the other one was wrapped around my shoulder. I could see Alice glancing back at us but if she wasn't going to say anything then I wasn't going to bring it up either. I started to trace patterns on the back of Edward's hand that was holding mine as I thought about what Edward had said. I didn't really think about what I was going to do if my dad wasn't home. I knew I wouldn't feel comfortable sitting at home on my own, I wasn't sure if I could handle that before but now after what could only be called a panic attack I _knew_ I wasn't going to be able to stay at home on my own.

Shoving that thought down to the farthest part of my mind for now, I concentrated on the absent minded doodles I was tracing onto Edward's hand, "How long does it take to get back to Forks?"

"It should take about four hours, but with the way Emmett drives it only takes us about two," Jasper said, laughing as Emmet threw a crumpled up piece of paper back at him.

Alice bounced up and down in her seat, apparently she can't sit still for long periods of time and I wondered where she got all of her energy from, "I think we should put on some music and have a sing-a-long."

Rose immediately agreed and started searching through a pile of CD's that she grabbed from in between hers and Emmett's seats.

Emmett groaned, "Fine, just so long as it's none of your girly crap."

I laughed as I saw both Jasper and Edward nodded vigorously and Alice groaned, "But Emmy…"

"No, Alice…I don't care if that Katy what's her name kissed a girl," Emmett thoughtfully tapped the steering wheel with his two index fingers, "Although that would be pretty hot to see."

Rose smacked him upside the head and glared, "Don't even think about it."

"Aw, come on Rosie, you know I love you babe…and careful, I'm driving," Emmett stuck his tongue out at his girlfriend and she only roller her eyes in response, but she did however let him take her hand in his and bring it to rest in his lap.

Alice pouted, "Fine, but then Rose and I get to choose the movie we watch tonight."

"That's perfectly fine," Jasper leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

Emmett groaned and Rose just laughed at him and turned to smile at Alice, "So what torture shall we put them through this time around Ali?"

"I was thinking romance…maybe Titanic?" Alice looked thoughtful.

I laughed as Edward sighed and buried his head in my hair, "What's wrong? Don't you like Titanic?"

"Do you really need an answer for that?" Edward asked, sitting up straight so I could see his face, "It's fine I guess, once in a while, but Rose and Alice like watching them at least twice a week and usually just to mess with us."

I laughed at the desperate look on his face. I definitely could picture Alice resorting to romance movies as a form of torture, "I'm sure you'll survive."

"I make no promises on that," he shuddered, glancing where Rose and Alice were whispering to one another.

I just shook my head and leaned back into Edward's chest, sighing when I felt his arm wrap around me tighter, "Well it's not like they're making you watch Romeo and Juliet or Pride and Prejudice, nothing beats the classics."

"Bella you're a genius," Alice leaned over her seat to grab me in a tight hug, "We can watch all three, and then maybe Serving Sarah just for the heck of it."

Edward glared at me and poked me in the side, causing me to jump as he hit a ticklish spot, "Now look what you've caused. I hope you're pleased with yourself."

I grinned up at him, "Quite pleased actually."

"I thought you loved us Bellsy, "Emmett pouted, pulling onto my street, which shocked me because I didn't think it had been nearly two hours yet.

Alice and Rose laughed, quite meanly too in my opinion, just as Emmett drove up in front of my house and Edward jumped out with his arms out to help me down as well. I said my goodbyes to everyone else and carefully climbed down with Edward's help. He led me around to the back and got out my three bags, which compared to the amount the other two had wasn't bad at all, and as we turned to walk towards my house I realized something I should have realized right away when we drove towards the house, my dad's cruiser wasn't in the driveway.

**_Author's Note: Alright, that's it for this time around, the next chapter will be posted sometime by the end of the week. And the chapters are getting longer, so much in fact that there's another one that I've had to split into two parts. I finally had a plan for this story, and right before I was falling asleep one night I had to delete what I had and write it all over again not sure if it's better than what I had but I guess we'll find out when we get to that point if I don't re-write it again. See you all later this week, love you all so much and all the positive feedback I've been getting from all of you. _**


	13. Chapter 13

_Starting Anew_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize that begins to Stephenie Meyer  
Author's Note: This is dedicated to TWILIGHTreader1 who's commented on every chapter so far and sent me plenty of PMs and who is one of the most awsome readers I've had contact with, has motivated me like no tomorrow, and even took the time to ask questions to better understand something and re-wrote a little of the last chapter to understand it better which is more than I've ever seen done before so thank you so much Hun. So here's the next chapter as promised so let me know what you think or if there's anything you don't completely understand. Love you all. **_

**Chapter 13: Is it Rushed? **

I bit my lip and Edward stopped walking to look down at me before placing my bags down beside me, "Wait here and don't move, I'll be right back," and he walked back towards the Jeep.

I just watched as Emmett opened up his window and the two brothers seemed to have a full conversation with, what I could see from where I was standing, little to no actual verbal words spoken but I assumed it must be a twin thing. He shocked me though when he stood back and Emmett drove away.

"Edward, what did you just do?" I stared at him as he walked back towards me and picked up my bags again, "And for crying out loud I can carry those myself."

He just laughed at me and gently nudged me towards the front door, "Well I'm not going to leave you here by yourself so I'm going to stay here with you, and I _want_ to carry these for you."

I sighed but sped up to walk ahead of him so I could unlock the door, "Thank you, you really don't have to go out of your way to help me like this though."

"Bella, I _like_ helping you," he put the bags down by the door once we were inside, "Besides, this also just got me out of the girly movie torture Alice and Rose have planned."

I giggled as we walked through to the kitchen, "Do you want anything?"

"Nah, we ate not too long ago," he pushed me towards the phone, "But you do have to call your dad Bells, remember you said you'd do it yourself once you got home."

I sighed, "I was hoping you would forget," reluctantly I picked up the phone and dialled the police station, "You sure I have to do this?"

Edward rolled his eyes and snatched the phone from me, "Hi, may I speak to Chief Swan please?" I felt my mouth drop open as I watched him grin at me as he waited for whoever was on the other line to let my dad know there was a call waiting for him, "Hi Chief, its Edward. No, everything's fine now. There was a bit of an…incident I guess at the mall so we left early. Yeah, I'll be – "

I quickly snatched the phone away from Edward, "Hi Dad."

"Bella? What happened, are you okay?" I could hear the panic in his voice and I glared at Edward.

"I'm fine dad, it was almost as if I was stuck in one of my memories, but I'm okay now," I took a deep breath and Edward pulled me towards him, wrapping both of his arms around my waist.

"Good, that's good," his breathing was starting to even out, "I had to stay here to finish up some paperwork but I'm on my home right now. Don't worry about dinner, I'll pick up something on my way home. Take care sweetheart, love you."

"You don't have to rush home, and I love you too dad," I hung up and spun around to poke Edward in the chest.

"There was no need to call him, I told you I was fine," I scowled as he pulled me back towards him.

"I know what you said, but I also know that talking to your dad helped you calm down a little bit, and don't tell me you didn't need it because you know you did and he's just worried about you," we walked towards the living room and he pushed me down into the couch before getting up to my dad's collection of DVD's, "Now, what would you like to watch?"

I shrugged, "Doesn't matter to me, just nothing scary please?"

"Okay, how about a comedy instead?" he smiled and I nodded, "Well your dad has Ferris Bueller's Day Off…how does that sound?"

"I love that movie," I agreed and got up to get some popcorn and cokes for the two of us.

Walking back into the living room I saw that Edward was skipping over the advertisements for other movies and had moved to the couch. I sat beside him, placing the bowl and two cans on the coffee table in front of us. We settled in to watch and I sighed in contentment when he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. We spent the next hour or so watching the movie and eating popcorn…and it was probably one of the best times I've ever had watching a movie.

Once the credits began to roll I brought the empty bowl and cans to the kitchen to clean up. I could hear Edward trailing in behind me and saw him lean against the counter, he looked like his was concentrating on something, so I didn't say anything in fear of distracting him. I pulled him back to the living room and curled up on the couch flipping through the channels trying to find something that would keep our attention.

"Bella?" I jumped at the sound of his voice, and he laughed slightly, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," I hoped he couldn't hear how fast my heart was racing, "What's up?"

It looked like he was trying to figure out the right words, and I was beginning to wonder if he was going to answer me at all. I was about to ask him if something was wrong when he leaned down and I could feel his lips touch mine ever so slightly before he pulled away and looked at me with a worried look on his face.

"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have done that," he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, all the while not breaking eye contact with me, "It's just that I like you and…well I know it seems rushed, but I've wanted to do that since I first saw you…I know I should have asked, or at least –"

I squeezed both of his lips together and laughed slightly as he went cross eyed to look at my hand, "I like you too."

I blushed as I removed my hand from his mouth and he grinned down at me, "Does that mean you'd consider being my girlfriend?"

I nodded and he picked me up to sit on his lap, resting his head on top of mine as we both turned back to the TV and I started flipping through the channels again, not really concentrating on what was passing by on the screen.

The front door opened and I could hear the rustle of plastic bags and fabric as I'm assuming my dad tried not to drop whatever food he picked up as he hung up his coat and gun.

"Bells?" he walked pass the entrance to the living not even glancing in it as he made his way to the kitchen.

I laughed and stood up, pulling Edward up with me and dragged him back towards the kitchen, "Yeah Dad?"

"I brought home Chinese," He took out an assortment of takeout boxes and placed them on the table, before going to grab three plates, "Edward, you're staying for dinner right?"

"If that's okay, sir?" he laced our fingers together and ran his thumb over my knuckles.

"There's no need to be so formal here, call me Charlie, and of course its okay," my dad turned around and his eyes zeroed in on our joined hands, "In fact, I insist that you do."

Edward nodded, "Alright then, I just have to go call my mom and let her know that I won't be home for dinner."

I watched as he headed towards the hallway and my dad guided me towards the table and into a chair before sitting down beside me and whispering so Edward couldn't hear, "Okay Bells, spill. What's different between now and last night?"

I raised my eyebrow, "Dad, you sound like a teenage girl starving for gossip. But Edward asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes. I really like him daddy, and I know it's fast but –"

"Bella, I could tell from when I first saw the two of you together that you would probably end up dating, and if it were anyone else in this town I'd probably have a problem with it, but Edward's a good kid. I'm telling you right now though, that he and I will be having a nice long chat before he goes home tonight."

"Okay Dad, just please don't scare him _or_ threaten him with your gun," I saw his cheeks redden slightly and I knew that was _exactly_ what he was thinking about doing. I shook my head and leaned up to kiss his cheek, "Thank you."

He sighed, "Fine, but only because in such a short time he's already helped you so much."

I laughed and Edward walked back into the room and sat in the empty chair on the other side of me. The three of us ate quietly with some small talk, but just like before it was comfortable. Once we were finished though, my dad gestured for Edward to follow him through to the living room and I stayed behind to clean up the few dishes we had.

When I was done, I cautiously walked through to the living room and I was pleasantly surprised to see both of them sitting comfortably watching baseball. I sat down beside Edward on the couch and he wrapped on arm around me and held onto the hand closest to him. My eyes flickered to my dad just in time to see him smile slightly before he turned back to the game.

Edward smiled as he leaned down and kissed my temple, "You look confused."

"I am, I guess I just wasn't expecting everything to be so calm," I reached up to grab the throw blanket that's draped over the back of the couch and put it over our laps.

Edward swung us around so we were sitting sideways on the couch and I was sitting on his lap and my head was resting on his shoulder. He brought the blanket up farther. We watched the game, Edward explaining things to me as the game progressed.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I knew I was laying down on Edward's chest and my dad was pulling the blanket up to my shoulders.

"What time is it?" I asked, trying to sit up but my dad's hands on my shoulder and Edward's hands around my waist prevented that.

"It's well after midnight and I've already called Dr. Cullen and told him that Edward was more than welcome to spend the night and I'd drive him home tomorrow," he brushed some hair out of my face, "Go back to sleep sweetheart, I'll be upstairs if either of you need anything."

"Okay," I sighed in contentment as I placed my head back down over Edward's heard and let it soothe me back to sleep.

**_A/N: Okay, okay, I figured I've made you guys wait long enough so there you have it, it only took 13 chapters but now they're officially a couple. Okay so let me know what you thought of it, or if there's anything that needs to be cleared up. The next chapter should be up within the next couple of days, probably before the end of next week, so keep a look out for it. Love you guys!_**


	14. Chapter 14

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs to anyone else, copyrighted or otherwise :)  
Author's note: Okay so I had my test today and I figured I'll give you the newest chapter tonight instead of tomorrow night. Hope you guys like it, I know I really like this one, so far it's definately one of my favourites. If you could leave a review that would be great if not then that's your choice :) ... so yeah, if there's any questions or anything that needs clarifying feel free to ask. _**

**Chapter 14: Preparations and Getting to Know the Other Side**

I loved waking up at my dad's house; because he had all the window curtains drawn the sun wasn't blinding and shining in your eyes first thing in the morning so I could always wake up at my own pace. I snuggled back down into my pillow, and my eyes flew open when my pillow moved, blushing when I realized that it was Edward that I had been laying on all night. And now that I was awake I could clearly remember my dad talking to me last night. Though, looking at him, I could tell that Edward wasn't awake and he wasn't planning on waking up anytime soon either.

I started to run my fingers through his hair, and trace his facial features with my index finger. I don't know how much time had passed until I could hear my dad's footsteps coming down the stairs. I called out to him, and he walked into the room, laughing when he realized that I was stuck and couldn't get up.

"No way kiddo, you're on your own with this one," he turned and left the room and headed towards the kitchen.

I groaned and struggled against Edward's hold, even trying to find a ticklish spot by poking his sides.

"Edward, time to get up, if you don't get up then I can't move," and obviously talking to him did absolutely nothing.

I had an idea though, I leaned up and kissed him chastely on the lips. I smirked when I felt him start to move and his eyes opened slowly, and I could see drowsiness, confusion, and finally recognition shining in them.

He looked over and pouted at me, "You wake me up and that's all I get?"

I laughed, "You're quite coherent for just having woken up, but if you insist," I leaned up and gave him a gentle kiss, "Good morning."

"Good morning Sunshine," we sat up and he ran his fingers through my hair, "It doesn't look like you've moved all night, your hair still seems to be in place, except you're missing the headband."

I stretched as the two of us stood up and walked through to the kitchen where my dad was sitting drinking a coffee, "Dad, did you take off my headband last night?"

"I did, I put it upstairs on your bed," he looked up at the two of us, "Did you two sleep alright? I was going to move you guys upstairs but I didn't want to wake you and I wasn't sure if I would have been able to carry Edward."

I laughed, "I don't think you would have been able to wake Edward up. But I slept fine," I moved around the kitchen, looking for something to find something to make for breakfast.

Edward sat down across from my dad, "It's not my fault if I'm a heavy sleeper, but the couch was fine Chei – Charlie," he changed what he was going to say when my dad gave him a look, "But if it would have made you feel more comfortable, as well as Bella more comfortable, maybe Bella should have been moved upstairs?"

My dad chuckled, "Actually that's exactly _why_ I didn't feel the need to move her, you're a good kid Edward and I know you won't take advantage of her or hurt her. Do you have any plans for today?"

"No, or at least none that I'm aware of," Edward answered, and I turned from where I was putting some eggs on the stove to look at my dad curiously.

"Well I was going to take Bella to La Push Beach with a couple of close friends of mine who live on the Reservation and their kids for a barbeque, it's something that we do every summer, if you like you can come as well," he looked from Edward to me, "You remember the Blacks, Clearwaters and the rest of the gang don't you?"

"Yeah, I remember them," I dished out the eggs and sat down between the two of them.

Edward looked between the two of us cautiously, "I wouldn't want to impose."

"You won't be imposing on anyone," my dad reassured him, "You should come."

"If you're sure, I'd love to," Edward smiled at me, and I could see my dad nodding his head in approval.

"Dad, do you need me to make anything for it?" I asked, now excited to see everyone that I hadn't seen in four years, since the last time I had come for a visit.

"No, there's steaks in the freezer that we'll bring and we'll stop at the liquor store on the way and pick up a couple of cases of beer," he stood up and gathered all of our empty dishes and cleaned them off, "Now, Bella, why don't you go upstairs and get ready? Edward we'll stop by your place on the way so you can get changed and let your parents know where you'll be today."

We both agreed and on my way upstairs I grabbed my bags from yesterday that I had left by the front door., "Edward, if you want you can come upstairs."

Edward nodded, after looking towards my dad to be sure that he didn't have anything against it, and followed me upstairs. I dropped off the bags at the foot of the bed and walked around gathering up my towel and a change of clothes for the day. I turned around to see Edward standing awkwardly in the middle of the room and I couldn't help but laugh as I put a brush with the things that I need to bring with me to the bathroom.

"You can sit down you know," I giggled, pushing him to sit down on the bed and sitting down beside him, "It's not the first time you've been in here."

"I know that, but is the first time since we've started 'going out'," Edward said, tucking a stray hair behind my ear, "I don't know, I guess I was just always taught that it's inappropriate."

"There isn't anything appropriate, Edward, besides I'll be getting changed in the bathroom and you can stay in here. It's not like I brought you up here to have sex or something," I felt my face heat up.

He laughed, "I know, I know, it's just something new for me is all," he looked out the window, "I've never dated before, and I've definitely never felt anything like I feel for you for anyone else."

I leaned against his shoulder, "Then we'll have to figure it out together then, because I've never dated before either," he turned to look at me and I smiled at him, "And I've never felt this for anyone…ever."

Edward leaned in to kiss my forehead, "We'll do it together then," he gave me a slight shove, "Now, go get ready," he leaned around me to grab one of the bags I had place on the bed, pulling out a sapphire blue baby doll top and a pair of white capris, "Why don't you wear this? You don't want to see Alice's reaction if you don't wear one of the new outfits she picked out for you yesterday. Although I do like the clothes I've seen you before and she didn't need to tell you what to wear and I don't want it to sound as though I'm telling you what to wear and –"

I leaned up and kissed him, "Okay, and if I'm entirely honest it is better than the cargo pants and green t-shirt I was going to wear. If you want my laptop is…" I looked around, and finally found it under the other two bags, "Right here, just don't go snooping around in it mister."

Edward laughed, "No snooping, I promise."

I nodded and after I put away the other clothes I gathered up my things and headed across the hall to the bathroom. After a quick shower I got dressed, brushed my teeth and decided to just keep my hair down so I just ran the brush through it. Walking back into my room I saw that Edward had picked up my Pride and Prejudice book and was idly flipping through the pages.

"I'm done," I laughed as he jumped, "Sorry."

"No you're not," he placed the book aside, "Bella, you're hair is still wet, you're going to end up getting sick."

"No, I guess I'm not sorry," I sat beside him and ran my fingers through my hair, "It's not that wet, I towel dried it. If I blow dry it then it just ends up a big fizzy mess."

Edward just laughed as he stood up and brought me up with him. I grabbed an old beach bag that I kept in my closet for these once a year trips to the beach and put two dry towels and a pair of track pants in it as well. The towels were just going to be used to sit on and the track pants were in case it got cooler later tonight. I also grabbed an elastic band for if I decided to tie up my hair later. Edward took the bag from me and clasped my hand in his as we headed down the stairs. I made him stop by the linen cabinet and grabbed the sunscreen and slipped that into the bag before going into the living room where my dad was flipping through the channels.

He looked up as we walked in the room, "You two ready to go?"

"Yes dad, is there anything at all that we need to bring?" I asked.

"Nope, the steaks are in a cooler by the front door. So I'll drop you two off at the Cullen's and I'll go pick up the beer and then come back for you guys," he stood up and we all went to go put on shoes, or they put on shoes and I picked up my pair of white flip-flops really glad they still fit from four years ago, and headed out to the cruiser.

Edward held open the front passenger side door for me and climbed into the back once I was in and me and my dad both laughed at him.

"Edward, this is exactly where you'll end up if you hurt my daughter, understood?" I would have been worried if I didn't see the laughter in my dad's facial expressions.

"Crystal clear," Edward laughed, "Although this is pretty neat, all that's missing is the handcuffs."

I just shook my head and turned my head to look at him, "Please don't tempt him."

He just grinned and rested his elbows on his knees.

The rest of the ride was spent in a comfortable silence and soon enough we were pulling up in front of the house.

"Okay you two, I'll be back in a bit to get you," my dad left and I followed Edward into the house.

We walked through to the kitchen where Esme was making breakfast, "Good morning kids, do you want something to eat?"

"No thank you Esme," I smiled and hugged her good morning.

"Are Emmett and Alice still asleep?" Edward asked, kissing his mother's cheek.

"Yes, of course they are, as is your father. I'm surprised that you're up this early Edward," She turned back to the stove to stir something that smelled wonderful.

"Bella woke me up this morning," he shrugged, "Anyways Mom, Bella and her dad asked me to go with them to a barbeque today, would that be alright?"

"Of course, if you're gong to be late tonight just call and let me know," Esme smiled and Edward nodded.

"I'm going to go shower, Bella did you want to come upstairs?" Edward asked, turning towards me.

Esme, however, took away any chance I had to reply, "Nonsense, I haven't had a chance to get to know Bella yet, you go get ready and we'll talk, Charlie's told me you like to cook Bella, did you want to help?"

"Sure, I'd love to," I gave Edward a reassuring smile and walked over to Esme.

After she was sure that Edward and left the room she turned to look at me, "Edward is exactly like his father and so that means that he has the Cullen gene in him that makes it nearly impossible to wake him up before his body's decided to get up, so I have to ask, how exactly did you get him to wake up this morning?"

I blushed, "Umm…well I just…kissed him?"

Esme smiled knowingly, "Okay, so he's more like his father than even I thought," she pulled me into another hug, "So does that mean that you are dating my son?"

My blush deepened, "Yes, but only as of last night so it's not like we were hiding it and no one else knows except my dad but that's only because –"

Esme laughed and turned off the stove and guided me over to the table, "Bella, sweetie, I'm very glad to hear that you to are going out. You look so adorable together and I can already tell that being around you has made Edward much happier already. Now, I expect to see you around more Hun, and get to know you better. I know your mom lives back in Phoenix, but if you ever need anything at all just let me know."

"Thank you," I whispered, trying not to cry.

Edward walked back in a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He stood behind me and rested his hands on my shoulders as his mom looked at us and smiled.

"Do the two of you need anything to bring with you?" Esme asked, standing up and heading towards the fridge.

"No thank you, there's quite a few groups going today and everyone brings something so there's always lots of food, my dad's already got the steaks in the car," I reassured her.

"Speaking of your dad, he should be back soon, do you want to go sit outside to wait?" Edward asked, helping me up when I nodded.

Esme followed us to the door and I turned to hug her before we left, "Thanks again."

"No problem sweetie, come visit again soon," she kissed my forehead and Edward's cheek.

I followed Edward out of the house and to the porch railing which he leaned against, speaking when the door closed, "Sorry about her, I think that's where Alice gets most of her personality but she either grew out of it a bit or she just hides it better."

I rolled my eyes and leaned into his side, sighing as he wrapped an arm around me, "She wasn't bad at all, Edward. I like her," I grinned up at him.

He smiled back at me, "I'm glad."

**_A/N: Hope you guys liked it and the next chapter actually might be up as soon as the weekend depending on when I get time to finish looking it over and do some last minute editing. Love you guys ._**


	15. Chapter 15

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: _**I don't own anything that you may recognize it's just here :)  
**_Author's Note: _**Okay, so here's the gang at La Push, and it's separated in half so there's more of them in the next chapter as well. Hope you guys like it. Thanks for all the great reviews and I promised it would be up by Saturday but you guys are so great I've decided to give it to you tonight instead as a gift for all the wonderful reviews (and I'm going to be out really late tomorrow). Love you all

**Chapter 15: La Push**

My dad pulled up a couple of minutes later and we walked down the steps to meet him as he got out of his cruiser.

"Edward, you know how to get to La Push, right?" he asked, and I looked at him curiously. If we were going to the same place, what was the point of taking more than one vehicle?

"Yeah, used to go there pretty often," Edward told him and kept my hand in his.

"Well we never know how late we're going to end up staying there, so this way if you need to head back you don't need to look for me beforehand," he leaned in towards Edward and even though I wasn't trying to, and I pretended I didn't, I could hear what he whispered to him, "I'd also feel better knowing that if Bella needed to get out of there quickly then it's possible for her to do so."

Edward nodded, "That's fine with me."

"Okay then, I'll see you both there," he got back into his car, "Bells, I'll bring your bag with me when I get there."

"Thank you daddy," I followed Edward to a garage attached to the side of the house and as I heard my dad drive away I gasped at the variety of cars they had here.

Edward laughed, "We like our cars," he opened my door for me before climbing into the driver's seat, "So Bella is there anything I need to know about anyone?"

I shook my head, "No, everyone's pretty good from what I can remember. My dad was friends with all of the fathers when he was growing up and they wanted their kids to have the same closeness. Sam is like my big brother, but if he pesters you just let me know. Other than that though, you should be fine."

He grinned at me, "Sounds like a piece of cake compared to my crazy family."

I couldn't help but laugh as we pulled up at the beach. We both climbed out of the car and after taking his hand in my own I led the way to a crowd near a bunch of picnic tables. I could easily make out Billy in his wheelchair at the head of a picnic table near Harry Clearwater and my dad. Sue and Leah Clearwater were sitting beside them looking through what looked like photo albums. Leah's younger brother Seth was playing soccer with Jacob, Quil and Embry. Sam was sitting at a picnic table talking to Paul and Jared, with his arms wrapped around a young woman with black hair which confused me because I had thought that he was with Leah. They were so in love for years, what happened?

Edward seemed relaxed as we walked towards where my dad was, "Your dad grew up with people who live on the reservation?"

I laughed, "Yeah, not too sure how it happened, I've been told he got lost when he was younger and wandered onto the res."

Edward laughed, "I bet he denies it."

I nodded as Billy noticed us, "Well look who it is. Bella, we've missed you kiddo."

I bent down to hug him with the arm that wasn't attached to the hand that Edward was holding, "I've missed you guys too," I walked around and hugged Harry as well, "This is Edward Cullen, Edward this is Billy Black and Harry Clearwater."

Edward shook their hands and I saw Billy and Harry smirk at one another.

"So you're the Edward that's dating our Bella," Harry said, leaning across the table and I turned to glare at my dad who looked away innocently.

"Yes sir," Edward smiled down at me, and I smiled back.

"Take care of her Son," Billy glared slightly, "Otherwise you'll have more than Charlie to deal with."

Edward didn't look like he knew what to say to that so I quickly jumped in, "So Billy, how're Rachel and Rebecca?"

He sighed, "They're good, refusing to move back here, but they do come for visits," He pulled me down so he could whisper without anyone hearing, "Actually when I told them that you were coming for good they both said that they'd be coming for a visit within the month."

I grinned and explained to Edward, "They used to babysit me when I was younger, so I learned a lot from them when I was growing up."

I heard someone clear their throat off to the side and saw Sue looking at me with a raised eyebrow so I immediately went over to hug her, "Hi Sue, Leah."

"Hello Bella, I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten me. Edward, the guys have already given you the threat so I'll just say welcome to our mix-matched family," She grinned and pulled him down for a hug as well, "We were just going through some old pictures from a couple of years ago, Edward if you like there's a few I could show you of Bella."

I rolled my eyes as I walked around the table to hug Leah as well, "As wonderful as that sounds I'm going to go say hi to the guys."

Leah laughed, "Nice to meet you Edward, and Bella you know he'll see them eventually so you might as well make the rest of the introductions quick, she's spent the last fifteen minutes picking out which ones she should show him."

I groaned as I pulled Edward away from them and towards the guys sitting at the other picnic table. Sam saw me first and he jogged towards me and lifted me up into a hug. Jared and Paul joined in as soon as they realized who their friend was hugging.

"Guys, can't breathe," I laughed as the three of them gently put me back on the ground. I pulled Edward over, "Edward this is Sam, Paul and Jared, guys this is Edward."

Sam stood in front of us, with the other two flanking him on either side, and seemed to give Edward the once over, "Nice to meet you kid. Remember this though, if you hurt her we all hurt you."

"That is the last thing I ever plan on doing," Edward reassured them, wrapping his arm around me, and I smiled as I saw Sam nod in approval.

"Good," Sam pulled the young girl over to us, "Bella this is my girlfriend Emily, Em this is my sister Bella."

"It's nice to meet you Bella," Emily leaned into Sam's side.

"Nice to meet you too Emily," I smiled at them all, "Now, I think it's time to go interrupt a soccer game," I headed off towards where the younger boys seemed to be in an intense game.

Paul laughed, "Good luck with that one kiddo."

Turning around I stuck my tongue out at him…and tripped over a rock. Edward immediately wrapped his arms around my waist and prevented me from hitting the ground. He kept his arm around my waist as we walked towards the shoreline where the rest of the guys were, and I expertly ignored the three booming laughs coming from behind us.

"I told you Sam thinks of me as his sister, Paul and Jared to as well to a lesser extent, but mostly I think it's because we were both only children growing up and I was always one of the smallest so he always just looked out for me," I wrapped my own arm around Edward's waist, "But I told you they'd like you."

Edward grinned down at me, "They all seem like great people, and I'm looking forward to seeing those pictures."

I just shook my head as we neared the game. They were all so into their game that they didn't even see us coming towards them. We watched them for a little bit before I decided that I've waited long enough and stopped the ball as it came whizzing past us.

"Hey, what's the big deal," Jacob spun around to glare at us before his face lit up when he realized who it was, "Bella!"

They all came over and I hugged them all, keeping one hand in Edward's, "Guys this is Edward, Edward this is Jacob, Quil, Embry, and Seth."

They said their hellos and we left them to continue their game as we walked back to Sue and Leah. They saw us coming and Sue closed the picture album, but she kept a small pile of photos out in front of her. Leah and moved around the table so she was sitting in between her parents and I sat down beside my dad, pulling Edward down beside me.

Sue passed the first picture to Edward and I groaned, she was starting with the baby years and working her way up.

"This is when Bella was nearly a year old, it was her first beach barbeque and she wanted to explore everywhere at the beginning until she tasted sand, then she stuck close to the adults," Sue explained, the picture was of a chubby baby with curly brown hair clipped back in a baby blue bow and wearing a blue dress with white poke-a-dots on it. I was sitting in my dad's arms as he sat drinking a beer and a three year old Leah was standing beside us making faces at baby me causing a large slightly toothy smile.

Edward grinned, "Adorable."

My dad leaned around me to look at what Edward was holding, "She was wasn't she? I've got more back at the house if you're ever interested. Oh and your mom has my cell number for emergencies and she called me on my way over here, Edward, and she said to be sure to get a couple of the two of you, no avoiding it."

Edward smiled and I groaned as Sue handed him the next picture and continued with her descriptions. This one had Leah, Rebecca, Rachel and I sitting at a table with chocolate ice-cream all over our faces. I must have been about three and it was a good thing the weather was nice because we were all in our bathing suits and once we were given the go ahead by our parents we immediately jumped into the water.

Edward grinned and passed the picture back to Sue and she handed him the next one. I was around five or six and was sitting on Sam's lap showing him a picture I drew as we all sat around the fire. My dad sat beside us on one side and Rachel was on the other braiding my hair. My dad had two plates of food on his lap and he was laughing at something someone on the other side of the camera said.

I grinned, "That was around the time when Rachel and Rebecca started babysitting me. I became their doll that could talk and move."

Edward laughed as he handed the picture back, "Sounds like Alice."

I couldn't help but agree, "A little bit, but not to the same extreme."

Sue took the picture back and handed him the next one. This one was from when I was nine and the dads decided to go fishing during our barbeque. My dad thought it was about time that I learned how and the picture showed him standing behind me on the fishing boat, both of our hands on the fishing rod. I was wearing a bright orange lifejacket and my dad's fishing hat that was way too big for me. We were smiling at each other and I don't think either of us realized that the picture had been taken at all.

Edward smiled, "I think this is my favourite so far."

My dad leaned around me again and Edward handed the picture over, "I don't think I've seen this one Sue."

"You haven't. Both you and Bella refuse to look through these albums and see pictures of yourselves. Anyways that one you can keep Charlie, I've got a copy of it at home," Sue looked through the pile of pictures, "Actually Charlie, if you want you can go through these later and see if there's any others that you want a copy of as well."

I laughed as my dad looked at the three albums Sue had brought doubtfully, "Uh…no thanks Sue, but thanks for this one," he put the picture in my bag that was sitting near his feet and slowly turned back to Harry and Billy.

Sue just laughed as she handed Edward another picture, "See, I told you, refuses to look through them."

Edward smirked and looked at the picture in his hand. It was of when I was twelve and it was the last summer that I had come down to see my dad. We were all sitting in front of the water and had set the camera timer on so we were all in the picture. I was sitting in between Paul and Jared on Sam's lap and Leah was behind us on her knees with her arms wrapped around Sam. Rebecca and Rachel were on either side of Leah, each with an arm wrapped around her. My dad, Sue, and Harry were at the very back and Billy was beside Paul. Jacob, Quil, Embry and Seth were sprawled out in the very front. It was a very pretty picture with the sun setting behind us.

"It's so strange to see how drastically everyone's changed from here to today," I sighed, looking around at everyone, I leaned into Edward's side as he handed the last picture back, "I feel like I've missed so much."

Leah smirked, "Not too much, mostly just mocking the guys for their voices breaking as they hit puberty and their drastic growth spurts that I swear must have happened over night."

I laughed, "Height and muscle wise apparently."

We talked for a little while until the cool morning air started to heat up and even though the water cooled the air slightly, the sun was still blazing down on us harshly. I reached down into the bag and pulled out the bottle of sunscreen as everyone around me laughed.

"Laugh all you like, but I only have to shades of skin colour, pale and bright red," I grumbled as I covered every visible patch of skin with sunscreen.

My dad laughed at me but took the bottle and mirrored my motions. After he handed the bottle back to me I offered it to everyone else who all refused. I looked at Edward and he just smirked and shook his head. I smiled as I opened the bottle and put some on my hand, rubbing my hands together to warm it up a little before I reached over and spread it over one of his arms as he just watched me with an amused look on his face.

"Well, now that one arm's done, I might as well finish," I grinned up at him and Edward just rolled his eyes but handed me his other arm all the same, "That's better, now close your eyes and mouth for a second," I carefully put some on his face before sitting back and putting the bottle back in my bag.

Edward rolled his eyes again and made a face as I pulled one of his hands in both of mine, "Now we're both sticky Bella," He sighed and kissed the top of my head, "Bells, I play on the school baseball team, I don't burn easily."

"I didn't know you were on a baseball team," I looked up at him and blushed, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to help."

Edward grinned and brought my hand up to gently kiss my knuckles, "Thank you Bells, I do appreciate it."

I looked at him doubtingly but he just pulled me closer with one arm and let me continue to hold the other. My dad brought Edward into whatever sport it was that they were talking about and Leah and Sue were telling me about a book that they both read and thought I would like. Eventually though the others made their way over looking for lunch. Since it was going to be a big barbeque later on tonight lunch was mostly different fruits, veggies, salad, cold cut meats, cheese and crackers. We each filled a plate and I grabbed a towel from my bag as Edward carried both of our plates and we all headed to a spot on the beach near the water, leaving the parents back at the table. I laid out the towel and sat down, taking both of the plates so Edward could easily sit beside me. Everyone else had done the same and we all quietly ate our food with small talk going on between each other.

"So Bella, what have you been up to in Phoenix during the last four years?" Sam asked from where he was sitting on my other side.

I tensed slightly, calming when Edward rubbed my back, "Um…not much really, you know, the usual," I stuttered, hoping he wouldn't ask anything else about Phoenix, at least not around everyone else.

He eventually nodded, but I could tell that he was trying to figure out what was going on and he would be asking me again later when we were by ourselves. I nodded back at him and whispered my thanks to Edward as he kept one hand on my back to keep my calm.

We had all finished eating when Leah stood up, "Bella, want to walk with me?"

I bit my lip and looked at Edward who just grinned, took my plate and gave me a little nudge on the back to get me to start moving.

Getting up I walked over to Leah and we linked our arms together and started walking along the shoreline like we've done many times before on these barbeques, normally with Rebecca and Rachel, to get away from all the guys for a while, sometimes Sue would even join us when it got to be too much for her as well. We took off our shoes and walked on the water's edge, each carrying our sandals in the hand that wasn't joined to the other person's.

"What happened between you and Sam, Leah?" I asked, looking at her carefully, "You two seemed so happy last time I saw you."

Leah laughed sadly, "I thought so, then one day my cousins came to visit two years ago and that was that, Emily is actually my second cousin. I've had time to get over it though, they both seem to be in love, and I've had enough time to realize that we weren't, so I'm okay with it, sometimes it's hard, but for the most part I'm happy for them. Sam and I have talked about it too, we're still close friends, and that's all it'll ever be," she grinned and kicked up some water to splash at my legs.

I laughed and kicked some water back, "I've missed you guys."

"We've missed you too Bell," Leah smiled softly, "Now it's just a shame that we have to wait all the way until next summer to see you again," She glared at me, "You are coming back next summer, aren't you?"

I looked at her shocked, "You mean my dad didn't tell you guys? I've moved in with him permanently, he's even getting my mom to send custody papers over to him."

The next thing I knew was I heard a loud squeal before I was being tackled down into the water. I laid there in the shallow water and Leah rolled off of me and we both started to laugh. Standing up we looked at each other and started to laugh harder. Turning around to head back to the group we saw both of our dads rushing towards us.

"What's wrong? We heard someone scream," My dad panted as he and Harry ran up in front of us before they got a good look at the both of us and started laughing.

We wrapped an arm around each other and linked the other one through our respective father's arm and the four of us made our way back down the beach.

"Charlie, why didn't you tell us Bella was staying for good?" Leah asked as we neared the larger group who were all looking our way worriedly.

"Thought you guys would like the surprise, your parents knew though," he grinned down at me, "Now, let's go get you girls wrapped up in some towels before you get sick."

We both nodded and followed them over to the picnic tables and I reached into my bag to pull out the second towel and wrapped it around myself as Leah did the same. Sue and Billy laughed at us as we also reached up to shake out our wet hair. Simultaneously we stuck our tongues out at them and walked back down to where we were sitting before our walk. Edward looked at me curiously as I sat down beside him and he ran his hands through my hair to help shake out the tangles before he wrapped the towel around me tighter and pulled me against his side.

"What the heck happened to you two? I don't think I've ever seen either of your dads move so fast," Paul laughed, poking Leah's side.

"If you don't know then I'm not going to tell you," Leah bent his finger backwards as he tried to poke her again and I laughed as she winked at me.

"Now I have to know what's going on, Bella will tell me, won't you Bells?" Jacob asked from across our makeshift circle.

"I just told Leah that I wasn't going back to phoenix tonight like I've done before after these barbeques, I moved in with my dad earlier this week," I snuggled against Edward and shivered as a little breeze blew past us.

Sam rubbed my back from behind, "Glad to hear it kiddo," he smiled but also gave me a pointed look that made me realize that there was absolutely no escape from the talk that I knew would have to happen then turned to Edward to explain, "These barbeques started off as goodbye parties for her whenever she had to go back to her mom, but of course Bella being Bella didn't want anyone to do anything like that for her so her dad quickly changed it to an end of summer celebration type of thing after she gave him dirty looks and wouldn't speak to him for a week."

Edward laughed and I buried my head against his chest to hide my blush.

"So what were you guys talking about as we went on our swim?" Leah asked, not releasing Paul's finger.

"Not much, just getting to know Edward a bit more," Jared explained, ignoring his friend's pleading look for help.

I leaned up to whisper in Edward's ear, "They didn't threaten you or anything, did they?"

Edward laughed and shook his head, "Not at all," He kissed my forehead and rubbed my towel clad back trying to dry the t-shirt that was still wet.

Edward leaned back to rest on his hands and I lay down beside him on my stomach facing the rest of the group so that my back was up and facing the sun so that it would dry faster. Leah mirrored my position and we both took off the towels and set them aside so they could dry as well.

Eventually though the guys got bored and got up to start a new soccer game, talking Edward into playing with them as well, and Leah, Emily and I started different games of tic-tack-to with each other in the sand, so we were each playing two games so all three of us were facing each other at once. It was fun getting to know Emily and I could tell by watching her and Leah interact that there really were no bad feelings between the two.

We got bored with that quickly and walked back to sit with Sue at the table, they guys had started preparing the meat and she just roller her eyes at their pathetic attempts at humour as they joked amongst themselves.

"Hello ladies," Billy greeted us and pulled me down to sit in his lap as the other two sat on the bench, "You two both look nice and dry now."

Leah and I both grinned at each other as Emily laughed quietly.

My dad looked up, "Careful there Bells, maybe you should get up."

I nodded and went to get up but Billy wrapped his arm around my waist, "Now, now, Charlie, I pulled her here and she isn't doing any harm. Now, go back to whatever it is you were doing and leave the two of us alone, I might just kidnap her."

My dad laughed, "You can try Black, but I'm pretty sure I'd be able to catch up, and if not I'm sure the boyfriend of hers would be entirely willing to help."

Billy groaned, "Fine, but I want her to come and spend a couple of days with me when my girls come home," he looked down at me, "Sound like a plan kid?"

I grinned up at him, "Sounds like a plan."

"So is there anything we can help with?" Emily asked.

Sue laughed, "Let them think they're manly men and do their barbequing," She pulled out a camera, "You girls can help me take pictures for this year's album."

Billy tightened his arms, "You girls are going to have to go on your own, Bella stays with me."

Sue grinned and quickly took a picture of Billy and I before we could look away, "Okay girls, now you can go," she handed the camera to Leah and the two of them walked down to the guys after taking a picture of Harry and my dad preparing the food.

"So Bella, what made you decide to finally move in with your dad?" Sue asked, cutting up fresh vegetables for a salad.

I froze and looked up at my dad who stopped what he was doing and his eyes shot up towards me. I shook my head slightly and pleaded with my eyes for my dad to handle the question.

"Sue," my dad brought Sue's attention to himself, "Something came up in Phoenix and I felt better if she came to stay with me. Her mom still has to send the custody papers but I should be getting those any day now."

"What happened? Is everything alright?" Sue looked panicked as she looked between my dad and I.

"Everything's fine now," he reassured her, "For now though what happened will be staying between her and I…and Edward I believe…but it'll all be taken care of."

Sue didn't look like she believed him but she let it go all the same, for which I was eternally grateful.

I could feel Billy rubbing circles on my back and I sighed as I leaned further into his side. Billy was always like a second father to me and I was grateful that he wasn't going to push for details, though I knew that my dad had probably already told him most of it as the two of them tell each other everything.

I could see Edward and Jacob heading towards us and grinned as Billy helped me off of his lap so that Edward could pull me onto his own lap as he sat at the picnic table and watched what my dad was doing.

"You two didn't last long," Harry noted, putting some fish on the grill.

Jacob grumbled, "The others play dirty. Two-on-two disqualification shouldn't be allowed…especially since neither of us play soccer."

I laughed and leaned against Edward's chest, "Speaking of which, how's your football going?"

"Pretty good," he shrugged, "We played Forks High in a game last year…they won by a long shot though, one of those guys is just _huge_ so our guys avoided him like the plague."

Edward laughed, "I thought you looked familiar," he rested his chin on the top of my head, "I was at that game, the big guy you're talking about is my brother Emmett."

Jacob groaned, "So, I'm guessing he's going to be on the team again this year?"

Edward laughed, "Yeah he is, we're graduating this year though so you won't have to worry about him for much longer."

"You're both graduating? That would mean either one of you failed or your twins," Jacob looked Edward up and down, "It was Emmett that failed wasn't it?"

I laughed and Edward rolled his eyes, "No, we're twins. I think he had a defect at birth though."

The two laughed and I could even hear my dad chuckle a little bit. I smiled to myself as I wrapped my arms around Edward's waist, glad to see everyone getting along. I closed my eyes in contentment when I was startled so badly by a flash of light that I nearly fell off of Edward's lap but he quickly caught me before I could slip off entirely.

**_Author's Note_**: Okay, so let me know what you think about the Quilette crew, no worries they'll be around for the rest of the story as well. So the next chapter will be up probably by the middle of next week and letting me know what you think through a review would be great :D


	16. Chapter 16

_Starting Anew_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that you recognize, it all unfortunately belongs to Stephenie Meyer (except the plot, I take full responsibility for that :D)  
**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter I love reading your reviews. Now, I don't know how many people actually read these things, but where better to put an announcement right? If you guys like Twilight, check out this forum **www . twilighters . us / forums **just get rid of the spaces. You can find me there (ProngsieBabie) as well so hopefully at least some of you register and join us :) . Okay so here's your next chapter, well actually it's the second half from the last chapter but I didn't quite have it all finished at that point, enjoy. _

**Chapter 16: Campfire**

Looking around I saw Leah and Emily standing off to the side laughing and Leah had the camera in her hand pointed towards us.

"Your dad said he wanted pictures of the two of you, we were just helping out," Leah managed to get out through her laughter.

My dad laughed, "Yeah, but I have my own camera in Bella's bag," he reached in and pulled out a silver digital camera, and before I could snatch it from him he had passed it to Emily and the two girls laughed again as they wandered off.

I leaned my head against Edward's shoulder and felt him run his fingers through my hair. I didn't pay any attention to the conversations around me so I jumped when Edward helped me sit up properly and I was extremely confused when I saw everyone else had stopped their soccer games and were all standing around the table.

"You dozed off for a little bit," Edward whispered in my ear as everyone filled up plates with dinner, "Your dad and I decided to just let you sleep for a little bit since you looked so peaceful. Anyways dinner's ready."

I nodded and both of us filled up a plate as we headed down to where the towels were still laying by the water's edge. Edward took my plate as I picked up the two towels before we followed everyone to a nearby fire pit. Laying one of the towels down to sit on, I draped the other one over our legs as it was starting to get a little bit cool outside, but not chilly enough to cause me to go put on the long pants I had brought yet. Sam, Paul and Jared took it upon themselves to go find firewood before the sun set completely. Everyone else laid their own towels down except my dad, Sue, and Harry who sat on a fallen log and Billy who had his chair pulled up beside my dad. Edward handed me his plate to hold onto as he excused himself and headed up towards his car.

I watched as he pulled something out of his backseat and as he started to head back I realized it was his black hoodie. He placed it beside him as he sat down and I put the towel back over his legs as he laughed slightly at me.

"Bells, I'm wearing long pants, just worry about keeping yourself warm," he kissed the top of my head, "If you get cold though let me know okay?"

I nodded as the guys came back with the firewood and together with Harry the four of them started to build a fire and Sue had my dad go help her with bringing the cooler filled with drinks over so no one would have to walk back over to the table when darkness finally settled in.

They came back and my dad kneeled down between Edward and I after putting the cooler where Sue directed him to, "If either of you two get too cold let me know, there's a blanket in the cruiser, and Bella you might want to go change your pants, once the sun goes down entirely it'll get cooler fast, just slip them on over what you have on now so it's warmer. I'm sure Edward would walk with you so you're not on your own."

We both nodded and stood up as my dad kept an eye on the plates to be sure no bugs crawled on them, and that none of the "growing boys" took anything as he put it.

Edward helped me keep my balance as I stumbled through the sand and over rocks that were hidden in the shadows. Getting to the table he pulled my bag out from underneath it and placed it on the bench. Thanking him I pulled out my black track pants and pulled them on over my capris. I leaned up and kissed Edward's cheek as we headed back towards the group and sat back down, this time I placed the extra towel beside me.

We all ate quietly, well most of us did, Jared and Quil were still boasting about winning their mini soccer tournament and Jacob was complaining that they either were or are currently on a soccer team and challenging them both to a football match the next day. After we had finished and all the plates and empty pop cans had been thrown out Jared pulled out a guitar and him, Sam and Paul began singing a couple of songs that they wrote themselves. I leaned against Edward and he rubbed my arm a little bit as I started to shiver slightly.

"Cold?" he leaned down to whisper in my ear.

I looked up at him and nodded, the sun had set completely and he looked absolutely breathtaking in the fire's glow, "Just a little, but its okay," I snuggled further into his warm arms, "You're warm, even in the cold air."

Edward laughed and pulled away as he picked up his sweater. He slipped it over my head, and it was huge on me but I didn't bother rolling up the sleeves as it felt like I was being swallowed by Edward's heavenly scent. He reached over and pulled my hair out from where it was tucked into the back of the hoodie and pulled me back into his arms and arranged it so I was sitting in his lap with my head tucked under his chin.

"Okay, I'm not even going to complain, this is much better," I mumbled.

Emily sighed and leaned into Sam's side beside us, "You two are too cute," Then she whipped out the camera and snapped a picture.

I just rolled my eyes and cuddled closer to Edward's body heat, "Aren't you cold?" I looked down at his bare arms that were holding me.

"No, I have a great tolerance for the cold and heat," He tightened his arms around my waist and kissed my cheek.

I looked around the circle and saw that most of them were either wrapped up in blankets or had a sweater or jacket on and they were all talking quietly, every now and then there would be a flash as either Emily or Leah took a picture. It was very relaxing and I could feel myself start to doze off when I felt saw a blurry shadow come up behind Edward. Blinking to clear my vision I saw that it was my dad coming up to us with a flannel blanket, couldn't tell what colour it was in the dim light, he draped it around Edward's shoulders and made sure that it covered both of us before he sat down beside us. He had his Police jacket on and he looked truly at ease.

"You two doing alright?" he asked, looking at both of us.

"Yes sir, Charlie," Edward answered, taking an edge of the blanket in either hand then wrapped his arms around me again, bringing the blanket tighter around us as a chilly wind blew past us.

"Perfectly," I mumbled into Edward's shoulder as I wrapped my arms around his waist and blearily looked up at the two of them.

My dad laughed, "Close your eyes if you're tired Bella, we're probably going to get going soon anyway, you're not the only falling asleep."

I tiredly glanced around and saw that the guys had put away their guitar and Emily was sleeping on Sam's lap and Jared had Leah sleeping against his shoulder, Sue had even fallen asleep against Harry. Even some of the guys looked like they were fighting to keep their eyes open.

Yawning I nodded and slowly closed my eyes as Edward pulled me closer to him. I wasn't able to fall asleep entirely but the noises around me seemed to dull slightly so everything seemed to be coming to me through a fog. Eventually though I felt myself being shaken and tiredly tried to open my eyes and saw everyone getting up and packing their things. Edward helped me stand before he folded up the blanket. My dad walked over to us with my bag over his shoulder and the cooler in his hand.

Everyone walked over to the cars and turned them on so the headlights were aimed towards the fire before my dad and Harry dumped buckets of water over it and kicked sand onto the smoking wood to be sure that it was out entirely. I groggily hugged everyone goodbye and after making sure Billy knew to call me when Rachel and Rebecca came down I followed Dad and Edward to where their two cars were parked.

"Are you sure you're alright to drive?" my dad asked, looking hesitant to let Edward drive on his own this late.

"I'm sure, I've already called my mom and she knows I'm going to be late," Edward reassured him.

I could tell my dad looked doubtful and I was glad, I honestly wasn't comfortable with Edward driving by himself so late at night.

"Give me a minute," I watched as my dad pulled out his phone and walked away from the group slightly.

"When did you call your mom?" I asked, leaning against Edward as my balance was even worse when I was tired.

Edward laughed and wrapped both of his arms around me, "I called when you fell asleep by the fire."

I sighed and drew circles on his arms, "Are you _sure_ you're going to be alright on your own?"

He kissed the top of my head, "I'll be fine Bella."

Sam walked over as everyone else was piling into their cars and pulled me into a hug and shook Edward's hand, "Call me if you need anything kiddo, you too Edward, take care of my sister man. I'll see you two later."

I nodded and kissed his cheek and Edward shook his hand before Sam got into his car and followed the others out so eventually the only cars left were Edward's and my dad's cruiser.

My dad walked back to us, "Edward, Bella get into the car. Edward I just spoke to your mom and told her I didn't feel comfortable letting you drive home and you're going to be spending the night at our place again tonight. She said your brother will come to pick you up tomorrow so you can get your car. No one will touch it."

Edward just stared at him as my dad got into the driver's seat, putting the cooler and bag on the passenger's seat. I laughed as I reached in and turned off Edward's car and handed him the keys before pulling him to my dad's car. Edward followed behind and I climbed into the backseat and he followed behind me after making sure his car was locked. He opened up the blanket and put it over me as I leaned against his side.

"You two ready?" my dad asked before pulling away from the beach.

I mumbled and pulled myself closer to Edward and let my eyes slowly drift closed as I could feel Edward's laugh rumble in his chest.

My dad laughed as well, "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

"I really appreciate this Charlie," I could hear Edward say, "You didn't have to."

"This is for my sense of mind as well as your mother's. I know I wouldn't be able to sleep if Bella was driving alone this late at night," That was the last thing I heard as I drifted off to sleep.

I could feel myself being carried and I slowly opened my eyes to see my dad carrying me up the stairs to my room. Resting my head against his shoulder I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him as he sat me down on my bed.

"Get some sleep kiddo, I'll see you tomorrow after I get home from work," he kissed my forehead.

"Okay dad, love you," I stood up and kissed his cheek as I followed him to my bedroom door, "Wait, where's Edward?"

"He's just getting ready for bed downstairs, I'm on my way back down there now to bring him a pillow and blanket," my dad smirked and leaned against my doorframe, "If you want you can try to convince him to come and sleep up here, I tried but he refused even after I said it was fine with me and said he didn't want to make you uncomfortable. I know I'd feel more comfortable knowing he was sleeping up here just in case someone managed to break in, and this way I know I won't wake him up when I leave for work in the morning."

I bit my lip, "I also sleep better when he's with me, I feel…safe."

He pulled me close to his side and guided me slowly down the stairs, "Good, let's go get him then, shall we?"

I giggled and followed him through to the living room where Edward was sitting on the couch. Pulling away from my dad I sat down beside Edward and smiled when he looked up at me.

"Can you come sleep upstairs with me?" I asked, noticing that he looked up at my dad before looking back at me seeming hesitant, "Please, I sleep better with you there and my dad said he'd be more comfortable if you weren't sleeping down here on your own as well," I chewed on my lip as I waited for an answer.

Edward looked at me worriedly, "You're sure it's alright?"

Smiling I nodded and I could tell my dad was doing the same when Edward looked towards him as well, "Alright then," he stood up and helped me up as well and my dad clapped him on the shoulder as we walked passed him and I saw him mouth a quick 'thank you' to Edward as the three of us headed up the stairs.

We said a quick goodnight to my dad before the two of us went to my room. Edward sat on my bed as I quickly grabbed my blue flannel pyjama pants and light blue t-shirt. I quickly went to the washroom to get changed and ready for bed before finding a new toothbrush in the cabinet that I brought back to my room for Edward. He thanked me before going into the bathroom himself to get ready. He was back quickly and we sat on my bed and he had me tucked securely into his side. We talked quietly for a little while before we both laid down under the blanket, Edward near the edge as he was worried I would fall off the bed in the middle of the night.

Edward reached around me and pulled up the blanket so it was up to my chin and he had one arm around me and I was lying with my head over his heart and we fell into a peaceful sleep.

_**Author's Note: **Hope you guys all liked it, school starts in two chapters and I know that's what some of you have been anxiously waiting for. Don't forget to register at the forum and I'll see you guys soon with the next update. _


	17. Chapter 17

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: _**I don't own anything and I'm not getting paid for anything that I put up here. Everything that you recognize from the Twilight saga belongs to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.  
**_Author's Note: _**Okay, sorry it's so much later than usual but I've had a hectic week and even though everything is still stressful I figured I'd post this chapter (which wasn't originally part of the plan, when I went to write what I had _thought_ would be happening on their last day of summer I ended up with this instead). I'm going to appologize because it's not exactly the best written chapter I've done but It's longer than most and I'm fairly happy with it, if my real life hadn't gotten in the way I would have done a better job, but we do what we can I guess. Okay so enjoy this next installment and possibly leave a review and let me know what you think. Also don't forget to check out and register at **www . twilighters . us / forum **and help us spread the word. 'Kay, enough rambling from me, enjoy the chapter :D.

**Chapter 17: Last Day of Summer**

I woke up early the next morning and I looked up to see Edward still fast asleep. He looked really peaceful so I decided to let him sleep and that I would make the two of us breakfast as he sleeps. After fighting my way out of his arms and crawling over him so I could get out of bed I noticed just how deep of a sleeper Edward is and I couldn't help but laugh as I headed down towards the kitchen.

Looking through the fridge I decided to make eggs and toast. I was just pulling up my hair so I could get started when there was a banging on the door. It was only seven thirty and as far as I knew no one was expected to come by this early otherwise my dad would have told me, and I knew the Cullens weren't morning people besides Esme so Rose and Jasper wouldn't have come without them. Nervously I crept my way upstairs, making as little nose as possible and making sure that my shadow didn't fall over the window beside the door, even though the blinds were drawn. The banging hadn't stopped and I was really started to get scared.

I quickly dashed into my room and started frantically shaking Edward's shoulder, "Edward, wake up. C'mon Edward, wake up, there's someone downstairs banging on the door," he shifted and I could see his eyes starting to flutter, "Edward, please, I'm scared."

He immediately shot up and looked at me confused, "Bella, what's wrong?" He leaned up and wiped tears off my cheeks that I hadn't realized had fallen.

"It's probably nothing, I'm just too scared to go look at who's banging on the door. They haven't stopped and it's too early for anyone to logically be visiting," I whispered and Edward stood up, pulling me behind him as he hurried out of the room and down the stairs.

I followed behind him as he looked through the peek-hole before shaking his head, but making no move to open the door. Instead he pulled me through to the kitchen, lifting me to sit on the counter as he picked up the phone, "I don't recognize him Bells, but I can tell you that I have never been so glad that your dad has this house as protected as it could be with a metal door and bullet proof glass…never mind the fact that all the blinds are down."

I started shaking as even more tears started to pour down my cheeks and Edward stood in between my legs and pulled me up against his chest with his free hand as he waited for someone to pick up on the other end of the line. I buried my face in the crook of his neck to muffle my cries. I could hear him talking to someone on the phone, but I couldn't bring myself to focus on who it was, all I could hear was the never ending banging which eventually made it's way from the front door around the house, to the backdoor which we were near. Edward quickly pulled me down off the counter and started backing up into the living room where he went over to the bookshelf and pulled a small handgun off of the top shelf.

"Edward, what are you doing?" I backed up from him.

"Yes sir, I've got it," Edward said into the phone before turning to me, "It's alright Bella, it's for just in case. I've got your dad on the phone and he's on his way here, do you want to talk to him?"

I nodded and took the phone from him, trying to ignore the never ending banging at that had moved to the windows, "Dad?"

I could hear a sigh, "Bella, thank goodness you're alright. I knew there was a reason I wanted Edward to spend the night last night. You're both okay right?"

"Yeah, we're both alright, whoever it is isn't in the house," I quickly reassured him, "Are you coming home dad?"

"Of course, I'll be there in less than five minutes," I could hear his breathing slow down from the panicked state it was in as Edward pulled me to sit beside him on the couch, "Both of you just stay put on the main floor that way if he does manage to get in you're not stuck trying to get to a door, just stay on the opposite side of the house from where he is. Don't make any loud noises, and maybe he'll think no one's home and leave. I love you sweetheart and I promise we'll get this guy."

"Alright, I love you too daddy," I whispered, "Be safe."

"I will, stick close to Edward," he hung up.

I hung up the phone and gratefully collapsed into Edward's arms as he placed the gun on the coffee table, "Why won't he go away?"

"I don't know Bella, but I promise I'll do my best to keep you safe," he whispered pulling me closer as the banging started on the front door again. Edward moved me onto his lap and wrapped both arms around me securely as he rocked us back and forth, humming a soothing tune under his breath.

Suddenly the banging stopped and I could hear faint sirens in the background, more than one, and I let myself relax slightly as the sirens came to the house, but yet they went right passed. Glancing up at Edward I saw that he was looking towards the door, and I could see flashing blue and red lights coming from between the edges of the blinds of the window beside the door. He tensed as we heard a key fiddle with the lock and he stood up, pulling me behind him as the door swung open and I sighed in relief when I saw that it was my dad standing there in his police uniform, his partner standing behind him slightly.

Running around Edward I threw myself into my dad's outstretched arms and he hugged me tight to his chest, "You both alright?" he asked pulling back to look me over before doing the same thing to Edward who had walked over behind me before pulling him into a quick hug as well.

"We're both fine," I quickly reassured him, "Who was it?"

He let out a bitter laugh, "Phil, that sick bastard found out where you went."

I felt my body go weak when I realized just who it was that had been that close to us, and as my knees buckled Edward caught me before I could hit the floor and gently lowered me down beside him. My dad kneeled in front of us and his partner had left the room.

"He ran once he saw us coming, the others went a head to stop him, and I promise we will. I called Edward's parents and Dr. Cullen and I believe Emmett are on their way so I'll join the others once they get here," he looked us both over again, "Thank you for looking after my baby girl Edward."

He nodded, "I'm just glad I did stay over last night," he kissed the top of my head and everything seemed numb around me but I could feel myself being lifted and placed down on the couch with Edward and my dad sitting on either side of me. There was a knock on the door and I jumped as my dad got up to answer it and Edward pulled me against him.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

"It's not your fault Bells, none of it is your fault," he leaned down and kissed me softly, "I'm glad I was here though, instead of sitting at home and not knowing what was happening... which reminds me I have to give you my cell number, if you ever need me whatever time it is I want you to call me."

I nodded, "Okay, we can do that later right?"

Edward laughed and kissed the top of my head and turned his head as my dad walked back into the room with Carlisle and Emmett following behind him.

"Oh thank God you're both alright," Carlisle dropped to his knees in front of us and pulled Edward into his arms before he turned and shocked me by doing the same thing to me.

Emmett looked angry and any sign of playfulness was gone from his face as he and Edward shared a _manly_ hug and pulled me into his arms in the biggest hug I'd probably ever been given.

"Edward we picked up your car earlier on the way here, but the two of you will be going in Emmett's Jeep back to the house and I'll be following behind in Edward's car. Bella, do you have anything that you need to grab before we leave?" Carlisle looked at each of us.

I shook my head but glanced towards my dad who sat back down beside me and wrapped his arm around me, "I'm going to go make sure that Phil doesn't get away. I'll come get you as soon as that's taken care of. Go get changed and grab your cell phone quickly."

I took in a deep shuddering breath before nodding and pulling Edward with me upstairs, smiling slightly when I heard Emmett's louder footsteps following us as well. I quickly grabbed a change of clothes and left the two brothers in my room and went to the washroom to get changed into the jeans and green t-shirt I had grabbed before heading back to my room where they were both sitting on my bed talking quietly to one another.

I picked up Edward's sweater but when I went to hand it to him he just chuckled and slipped it on over my head, "You keep it, it's chilly outside and it looks better on you anyway."

Emmett was the first one to stand up and opened his arms up for me, "Come here Bellsy," he scooped me up and started carrying me out of the room with me resting on his hip.

Edward smiled at the two of us and I saw him grab my phone off of the end table and followed us downstairs.

Carlisle and my dad laughed slightly before leading the way out of the house. Edward opened up the door on the Jeep and stood back so Emmett could put me down. My dad walked over and gave me a hug as he reassured me that he would call as soon as he was on his way back and that it would be as quick as possible. Edward climbed in beside me and Emmett got into the driver's seat as our dads got into their cars and we all pulled away from the house.

"So you guys went to get my car before going to the house?" Edward glared at Emmett through the review mirror and I shook my head as I started playing with the edges of the sleeves of Edward's sweater.

"We weren't going to, neither of us were very happy with it, but Chief Swan told us to stay away from the house because they didn't know who it was and they were on their way themselves and so dad and I had to do something to feel useful so we went to pick up your car," Emmett shrugged, "There was nothing else we could do, Edward."

Edward sighed and nodded, "I know Em, I'm sorry for snapping like that."

Emmett grinned, "It's fine man, don't worry about it."

We parked in front of the Cullen house to see Esme and Alice, Rose and Jasper anxiously waiting outside. Emmett and Edward both got out and as I opened my door to get down as well I saw Carlisle standing there with a small grin on his face as he reached up to lift me down.

I blushed, "Thank you."

"You're more than welcome Bella," Carlisle smiled, spinning around to catch Alice around the waist as she ran up behind him.

Edward laughed and led the way up to where his mother was standing on the front steps and Esme pulled us both into a hug as soon as we were within arm's reach. He quickly reassured her that we were both fine, but she still wouldn't let us go until she inspected every available part of us to be sure there were no marks or anything. Alice hopped up the steps and hugged me before jumping into Edward's arms. Rose seemed to give us the once over with her eyes before rubbing Edward and the back and hugging me lightly. Jasper just rolled his eyes at Alice's behaviour before quickly wrapping an arm around my shoulders as we followed Esme though the house and into the kitchen.

I could see Esme wiping off her eyes as we all sat down at the table and Carlisle stood behind her with his arms around her waist, "Everyone likes French toast right?"

We all nodded and she quickly made herself busy around the kitchen as Carlisle sat down near us, "Why don't you kids take it easy for the rest of the day, maybe watch a couple of movies?"

Everyone agreed and Edward had handed Alice over to Jasper before wrapping an arm around the back of my chair. Esme dished out breakfast and we all ate in silence, no one really sure on what should be said. Eventually though we finished eating and Alice jumped up from her seat and pulled both Rose and I into the living room where we sat down on the couch and watched Alice running around the living room, trying to decide which movie to watch.

The guys and Esme and Carlisle followed us at a much slower pace and Edward and Emmett pulled Rose and I up so we were sitting in their laps and Jasper sat beside Edward while Esme and Carlisle sat on the loveseat.

"What about Gremlins?" Alice looked at us from where she was sitting in front of their extensive DVD collection.

We settled in to watch the movie and Alice skipped over to sit on Jasper's lap as the opening credits began to roll. I leaned back against Edward's chest and he just wrapped his arms around me tighter. Everyone else was so captivated by the movie, but personally I just liked the beginning when Gizmo is cute and adorable then I zone out of the rest of the movie which is probably not a good thing as I was able to think more about what happened today.

I was terrified that Phil was so close and I still couldn't believe that Phil had found out where my dad lives, but as I thought about it I wondered if my mom told him. She didn't believe anything I told her about him; it was possible that she would have told him. I bit my lip as I realized something, if Phil was caught then chances were my mom would lay the blame entirely on me and probably wouldn't want to listen to me if I were to say otherwise. As I looked around the room full of these people who so readily accepted me into their lives I realized that whatever happens I would be able to make it through it because of these exact people and my dad. None of this, however, changed the fact that I was completely scared out of my mind.

"Bella?" Edward leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Are you alright?"

I looked at him slightly and blushed, "I'm fine, just thinking."

He looked at me sceptically before excusing us, helping me up and leading me up the stairs to his room. Edward sat on the bed and pulled me beside him, wrapping both arms around me and rested his chin against my shoulder, "What's wrong, Bells?"

I shook my head, "It's stupid really, just thinking."

"If it's bothering you then it's not stupid. If this is about that Phil guy don't worry, your father won't let anything happen to you, and neither will I for that matter. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's bothering you," he kissed the top of my head and I leaned against him further.

"I'm just scared at the fact that it was so easy for him to find me, and I think it might have been my mom who told him where I was," I bit back my tears and sighed as he lifted me up to sit sideways in his lap, "It probably would have been a whole lot worse if you weren't there though Edward, so thank you," I leaned up and kissed his cheek.

He rubbed circles on my back slowly, "I'm definitely glad you weren't home alone Bella. And I promise you that if it makes you more comfortable you don't have to be alone until it's all over and done with or until your comfortable being alone. As for your mother, I don't know what to say, maybe you should talk to your dad about that," he smiled down at me reassuringly.

"Thank you," I kissed him softly before resting my head on his chest.

"You're more than welcome love," he tightened his hold on me and I felt safer and more reassured

I blushed as I wiped away the tears that started to fall that I just noticed before standing and pulling Edward up with me, "Can we go back downstairs now? I don't want to explain the full story of what's going on to everyone else yet."

Edward swung me up into his arms and carried me back downstairs bridal style. I laughed the whole way down as I rolled my eyes when he refused to put me down. We went through to the living room and saw that they had moved on from Gremlins to Back to the Future. Esme and Rose looked up at us as we sat back in our vacated seats and I smiled reassuringly at them before settling into Edward's lap.

We watched the movie in a comfortable silence and when it was over Esme got up to make lunch and I quickly got up to help her with Edward following close behind me. We walked through to the kitchen and she started pulling out chicken wings and the ingredients for a pizza.

"You kids don't need to help, why don't you go sit with the others and I'll get Carlisle in here to help me," Esme said, preheating the oven.

"It's okay Esme, I'd like to help," I reassured her as Carlisle walked in and started to spread the sauce on the pizza dough and Edward sat on one of the stools along the counter.

I hopped up onto the stool next to him and Esme chuckled as she passed us a bowl with spices and set about dipping the wings in the mixture and placing them onto one of the three clean trays. Edward caught on and copied what I did and between the two of us we quickly got through the whole batch. I looked up and started laughing when I saw Carlisle covered in sauce, flour and he even had cheese in his hair. Edward glanced up and when he saw what I was laughing at he started chuckling as well while Esme took pity upon him and started dusting the cheese out of his hair.

Esme put one of the pizzas and a tray of chicken wings into the oven as Carlisle wiped off his face and shirt. Edward was still laughing as he grabbed my stool with one hand and pulled me closer to him before wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him. I saw his parents smile at us as I leaned against him.

Emmett bounded into the room and wrapped an arm around both Edward and I, "Hey, are you two coming back? Alice and Rose want to watch Cheaper by the Dozen 2."

Edward looked at me and I nodded so we got up and followed Emmett back through to the others and Edward sat on the couch while I sat on the floor in front of the seat beside Rose as Emmett sat behind her on the couch and Alice remained curled up on Jaspers lap. I giggled I poked Edward's food and he jumped. Edward glared down at me and wrapped a leg around my waist and I just stuck my tongue out at him before resting my head on his knee. Rose hooked one of her outstretched legs over one of mine. I glanced over at her and laughed quietly when I realized that Emmett's position mirrored Edward's only his opposite leg was wrapped around Rose who just shook her head and rolled her eyes. She smiled at me before we both turned back to the movie.

At the end of the movie Esme came but before she could say anything she started to laugh quietly, Rose and I both looked up at her and she pointed behind us. Glancing back we saw that Edward, Emmett and Alice had all fallen asleep and Jasper was slowly trying to get out from under Alice. Standing up he placed her down beside her brothers then he helped us to disentangle ourselves from the twins. Esme guided us to the kitchen which almost smelled like a pizzeria and told us all to sit down before pulling Carlisle out to the living room with a camera in her hand.

"It's the Cullen gene," Rose shook her head as the three of us sat around the table, "They can fall asleep at anytime anywhere and once they're asleep it's almost impossible to wake them up."

Jasper and I laughed just as Esme and Carlisle walked back into the kitchen laughing.

"They'll get up sooner or later," Esme sat down beside me, "We might as well start without them."

It was only about five minutes after we started eating when Edward stumbled into the room and sat in the empty chair beside me and started making a plate for himself, "Not a word," he warned, glaring at me when I started to laugh.

Esme shook her head, "Did you at least wake your brother and sister?"

He gave her a look, "Yeah, that's impossible. How long have we been asleep for anyway?"

Rose shrugged, "Depends on when you fell asleep, it's only been like ten minutes maybe since we saw you were asleep."

Edward shrugged, "That's not so bad then."

Carlisle laughed and rolled his eyes while cleaning up his and Esme's dishes, "Well we're going to leave you kids alone. We'll be upstairs if you need us. Edward, let us know when Charlie calls."

Edward agreed and Carlisle and Esme left the room.

I looked up at Edward worriedly, "Shouldn't he have called by now?"

"Chances are, once they do catch this guy they're going to have to go through the process of actually arresting him too, I'm sure he'll call him as soon as possible," Jasper quickly reassured me as he set aside a full plate for, I assumed, Alice when Emmett bounded into the kitchen and started eating without saying a word.

"Thank you, Jasper," I smiled at him and Edward grabbed my hand under the table as he grimaced at the amount of food Emmett was shovelling into his mouth.

Alice shuffled into the room, tiredly wiping her eyes and fixing her hair, and immediately sat in Jasper's lap as he pushed the plate of food towards her. She kissed his cheek and slowly started nibbling on a slice of pizza.

"So Bella, how was that barbeque that Carlisle said you went to yesterday?" Rose asked, being careful not to actually look at what Emmett was eating.

"It was good, nice to see everyone again," I smiled, before groaning and burring my face in my hands, "And chances are my dad's called them and told them what happened."

Edward laughed, "I'm sure he did."

I glared up at him, "Not helping, Edward."

"Is there something going on between the two of you?" Alice looked between the two of us with a determined look on her face.

Of course, I immediately blushed and Alice squealed, having put two and two together, and ran around the table to tackle me in a hug. Edward rolled his eyes and tried to pry his sister off of me and pulled me to sit in his lap while protectively wrapping his arms around me. We all laughed at him he just pouted at everyone.

"If you all _have_ to know everything," Edward growled, "We only started dating two nights ago and before you even ask yes, mom, dad and Charlie all know."

Alice crossed her arms over her chest, "And just why did they know before we did?"

He just raised his eyebrow at her, "Does it really matter, Alice? This is new for us, so just leave it be."

Alice sighed, "Fine, I'll let it go for now, but I will get my answers Edward Anthony Masen Cullen," she then skipped around the table back to Jasper's lap.

I looked up at Edward, "Anthony Masen?"

He groaned, "Yeah, my parents gave both me and Emmett our mother's maiden Masen as a middle name and each of us have one of our grandfather's names as another middle name, Anthony is our mom's dad and Demetri is our dad's dad. Alice is actually Mary Alice Patricia after our mom's mom Mary and Patricia is our dad's mom. It flowed better as it is on the birth certificate but she goes by Alice."

I saw both Emmett and Alice grimace and smiled as I kissed his cheek, "Well, I like it."

"If you say so," Edward rolled his eyes.

"So what do you guys want to do for the rest of today?" Jasper asked, leaning back in his chair and keeping one arm firmly around Alice's waist to hold her in place.

"Whatever's fine," Rose answered, finally pulling Emmett's plate out from in front of him.

Just then I heard a ringing sound coming from Edward's pocket. He reached down and pulled out my cell phone. He lifted me off of his lap and led me up the stairs to his room as he handed the phone to me as we sat on his bed.

"Hello?" I giggled as Edward wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Hey sweetheart," hearing my dad's voice instantly calmed me down, "We got him. There's just a little bit more paperwork to finish up then I'll come get you. You should know though, that your mom's been called because be asked for her to be his phone call and he said that she's on her way as we speak."

I took in a deep shuddering breath, "I don't have to see her, do I?"

"No, I got the papers in today, I just hadn't had a chance to tell you yet, they've already been signed and submitted, I now have full custody of you," he chuckled slightly, "She no longer has any claim on you and no say in what you do. If you choose, you never have to see her again."

I smiled widely, "Thank you, daddy."

"You're more than welcome baby girl," he was silent for a couple of minutes, "Is there any way you can give the phone to one of Edward's parents?"

"I think so," I looked up at Edward, "He wants to talk to your parents."

He nodded and took the phone from me as he left the room. I felt uncomfortable being left alone so I quickly stood up to follow him. I caught up to him and saw him quietly talking into the phone as he took my hand in his own and walked up a staircase at the end of the hall. We made it up to the top where I saw one door right at the top of the staircase and at the end of a narrow hallway was another door. I pushed myself closer to Edward as he led the way to the door at the end of the hallway.

Esme opened the door almost exactly when Edward knocked, "Hello kids, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, Charlie wants to talk to you though," Edward passed the phone over and the three of us walked into what looked like an old study you see in movies.

Edward grinned at me, "This is my dad's study, there's a lounge area with a T.V. and books for when my mom joins him, which is probably more often than not," he pointed towards where there was a sofa located in one corner of the room with a television set directly across from it that had a bookcase beside it.

On the other side of the room I saw Carlisle flipping through some papers on his desk, but he glanced up to smile at us. We headed over to him and Edward sat in the chair on the other side of the desk and I sat on his lap, not sure if we disrupting his work.

"Your dad called then?" Carlisle asked, putting his papers down in a neat pile at the corner of his desk.

I nodded, "Yeah, he said they caught Phil."

"That's good then," Carlisle seemed to hesitate before continuing, "I don't know how much you've told Edward, or how much you're comfortable with anyone knowing…but your dad had told me everything. I haven't told Esme, but your dad didn't feel comfortable with the idea of you staying with someone who didn't know what had happened, and I just want you to know that if you need anything, such as a doctor, a second father, or anything in between you can always come to me."

If it had been anyone else I would have been mad at my dad for telling someone what happened to me, but I knew that he was just looking out for me, "Thank you Carlisle, that really means a lot, and actually I told Edward everything the day we met."

His eyebrows shot up, "Is that so?" he leaned forward and gestured for me to do the same, "Well Bella, I don't think I've seen Edward as happy as he is when he's with you."

I blushed and Edward groaned, "Dad, c'mon."

Carlisle laughed as he sat back up, "Edward, I wasn't talking you, I was speaking to Bella," he playfully glared at Edward who just rolled his eyes in response.

Esme headed back into the room and sat in the other chair that was beside the one Edward was sitting in as she handed my phone back to me and I put it in my pocket, "Bella, your dad's on his way. I've invited him to stay for dinner."

I smiled, "Thank you, Esme."

"You're more than welcome sweetie," she stood back up, glancing at the three of us on her way out, "Now, I'm going to go make sure that Emmett didn't break anything and find something to get started on for dinner, I'll meet you all downstairs."

Carlisle stood, and Edward and I did the same, "Would the two of you feel more comfortable if Edward spent the night at your place again? I'd offer for you to stay here but I know your dad would feel better if you were at home."

Edward pulled me closer to him as we left the office and walked back down the stairs, "I know I would feel better about it, if it's okay with Bella?"

Both Cullen males looked at me and I nodded a little bit, "Yeah, I'd feel better, but I don't want to put anyone out."

"You won't be Hun," Carlisle reassured me, "We'll talk to Charlie when you two are getting ready to leave to be sure it's alright with him. Now, let's go take a look and see what everyone else is up to."

We walked down the final staircase and we all laughed as we walked into the living room. Alice, Rose, Jasper and Emmett were all tangled up in one another as Esme was trying not to laugh as she spun the arrow on the piece of cardboard.

"Aren't you all a bit too old for Twister?" Carlisle asked, sitting beside his wife on the sofa as Edward pulled me to the recliner.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Jasper struggled to keep upright and not collapse under Emmett's weight as the Emmett struggled to reach over Jasper and under Alice.

I laughed and Edward just shook his head.

Rose gave up and moved to sit in front of us on the floor, "So Bella, are you looking forward to school tomorrow?"

I sighed, "Kind of, I don't like being the center of attention though so I'm not looking forward to being the 'new kid'."

Rose laughed, "Don't worry about it too much, at least you're going in knowing someone so you won't be by yourself. And chances are there's a low chance you'll be in a class by yourself."

"That actually doesn't really help," I buried my head into Edward's shoulder and I could hear them both laughing at me.

"Jasper stop being such a chicken," Emmett boomed.

I looked and saw Alice had stopped as well and was sitting on the floor near her parents and Emmett and Jasper were still going at it and by the looks of it Jasper would have to put his head near Emmett's butt. We all laughed as Jasper sighed before standing up.

"No way, man, this just isn't worth it," Jasper shuddered as he sat beside Carlisle.

Esme stood up and she and Carlisle made their way to the kitchen to get started on supper while the rest of us stayed in the living room. Emmett pulled Rose to lay down with him in the middle of the living room floor. Everyone talked quietly amongst themselves as I just followed along silently.

Edward poked my sides, whispering in my ear, "You're awfully quiet, everything alright?"

I smiled up at him reassuringly, "Yeah, everything's fine."

He looked like he wanted to say something else but the doorbell rang. We watched Carlisle walk through to the front door and not too long after come back through with my dad following behind him.

I jumped up and, with Edward following behind me, rushed over to them and after I gave my dad a hug the four of us went to the kitchen.

Esme was just finishing off a lasagne and garlic bread when she saw us walk in, "Charlie, glad you could make it for dinner."

"Thank you for inviting me Esme, as well as for letting Bella spend the day here," my dad sat down at the table beside Carlisle and Edward and I sat with them.

"It was our pleasure Charlie, no thanks necessary," Esme reassured him, "I actually have to make a call for work, Carlisle, keep an eye on the lasagne and I'll be back down in a little bit."

"Charlie, what shift are you working tomorrow?" Carlisle asked, getting two beers and handing one to my dad.

"Early morning," he and Carlisle seemed to communicate with their eyes as they both grinned at the same time, completely freaking me out and I scooted my chair closer to Edward's.

Edward looked confused, but he continued where his dad left off, "Charlie, would it be alright if I spent the night again? I'd feel better knowing she wasn't by herself and I can also give her a ride to school."

Charlie grinned from across the table, "That's fine with me, thank you Edward."

Edward gave the two dads an odd look, "Yeah…so Bella and I are going to go back with the others…"

I giggled but got up and followed Edward back into the living room where the others had started another movie, this one I didn't recognize. We went to the couch and Edward tugged on my arm so I was sitting sideways on his lap. We got through the movie silently beside Alice and Jasper while Rose and Emmett were still laying on the floor.

The movie was nearly over when Carlisle peeked into the room, "Dinner's ready kids."

Nodding we all got up and followed him to the dining room and sat around the large dining room table where Esme, my dad and another man and woman were already sitting.

"Mom? Dad? You guys aren't supposed to be back until Tuesday, what are you doing back already?" Rose asked, "Oh, and this is Bella, Bella these are our parents Amelia and Harold Hale."

"Nice to meet you Bella," Mrs. Hale smiled at me before turning to her kids, "The business deal closed early so we caught the first flight home we could, we wanted to surprise you."

We ate the delicious meal Esme had made with comfortable conversations flowing between everyone. All too soon though it came to an end and my dad said that since school was starting the next day it was time for us to go home. Edward and I both agreed and I followed Edward upstairs so he could pack a bag for the night and grab what he would need for school the next day which wasn't much, just a knapsack and a couple of notebooks. I sat on his bed as he dug through different drawers and went through his closet before he had an overnight bag ready. He picked up the small duffle bag and the knapsack and waited for me to leave the room before he closed the door behind us.

I looked at the bags sceptically, "Do you need any help with those?"

"Nope, I've got them," he kissed the top of my head and we went downstairs to where my dad was waiting by the front door.

"Are you two ready to go?" he took the duffle bag from Edward.

We both nodded and put our shoes on just as Carlisle and Esme came to say goodbye.

"I'll see you both after school tomorrow," Esme gave us both a hug, "Edward, behave."

I laughed as Edward blushed, yet he nodded all the same.

After saying goodbye to everyone else we went out to the cars with my dad in his cruiser and Edward and I in Edward's Volvo. The ride home went by fairly quickly and before long we were pulling up alongside the curb in front of the house as my dad parked in the driveway.

"Alright, why don't you kids go get ready for bed, you don't have to sleep yet but it might be better if you do soon, especially with school tomorrow," my dad kissed the top of my head, handed Edward his bag and headed upstairs.

Edward gestured for me to go first, and after making sure he had both bags, followed me to my room. We took turns in the bathroom and after we were both ready we decided to turn in for an early night so we crawled into bed with me laying with my head on Edward's chest and his arms wrapped firmly around me.

**Author's Note: **Hope that wasn't too disappointing for you all. I do appologize and want to let you know if I had more free time I would do my best to be sure that the quality of this chapter would be better as I'm not all that happy with it. Thank you for reading and I should have the next update up by hopefully Thursday, as I have a test on Wednesday. Leave a comment if there's anything that needs clarifying as I know that this chapter is kinda confusing, and don't forget to check out and let your friends know about **www. twilighters . us / forums**. See you al next time :)


	18. Chapter 18

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: _**If I didn't own anything in any of the previous chapters what makes you think I own anything now?

**_Author's Note: _**So we finally get to the chapter that so many people have been asking me about, the first day of school. You get to meet some of their friends, and not so friends; the teachers and classes; and of course Edward's protective side comes out a bit again. So hope you all enjoy and possibly leave a review telling me if I've met your expectations of Bella's first day or if I failled miserably.  
**_www . twilighters . us / forums_** is waiting for you all to register, say hello, and join in on our conversations. Some people are joining but not talking to us and it's making three of us very lonely so come talk with us :).

Alright so here's the latest chapter, hope you all like it.

**Chapter 18: Classes Begin**

I awoke the next morning to a loud beeping noise. Reaching over to the bedside table I turned off the alarm clock before looking up at Edward's face to see that he wasn't the least bit disturbed by the loud noise.

Chuckling to myself I leaned up to brush the hair out of his face, "Edward, c'mon we have school today."

He groaned and rolled over, bringing me with him. I sighed and pushed on his chest.

Edward blearily opened his eyes and glared at me, "Stop moving around I'm trying to sleep."

I laughed and continued to try to push him off until he rolled over onto his side, "I know you were trying to sleep, that was the problem. We have to get up and ready for school mister."

"Fine, but if I fall asleep in class it's all your fault," he smirked and kissed my forehead, "Do you want to go get ready first?"

"Yeah, that way I can work on breakfast while you get ready," I sat up and the two of us got out of bed.

I got out a pair of black denim jeans and a brown t-shirt, reminding myself I had to do a load of laundry, before heading into the bathroom to take a shower, brush my teeth and get dressed. I quickly put on some light brown eye shadow and black eyeliner, giving myself a once over in the mirror and figured I looked decent. Walking out of the bathroom I let Edward I was finished and then went to the kitchen to start making breakfast.

I looked through the cupboards, but in the end I decided to just pour a couple bowls of cereal. I got out a box of Captain Crunch and a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, unsure of what Edward would want. I poured my bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and flipped through the channels to try to find something entertaining to watch. As I settled for the news I felt the couch sink down a little and saw Edward sitting down beside me with a bowl of Captain Crunch.

"Good morning, ready for your first day at Forks High?" he looked at me, then gave a sceptical look towards the television where an anchorwoman was announcing that there was a family of ducks crossing some highway, "Seriously things like this makes it to the news?"

"Apparently," I laughed, "And I'm not really looking forward to it, but at least I'm not by myself."

Edward kissed the top of my head, "Never, I won't even leave your side for a second if you like."

I leaned into his side, "I wish, but we probably won't have every class with each other."

"I suppose," I could feel him sigh, "But even then, you should have classes with at least one of us since it's such a small school."

"That is probably the only reason why I'm not in full out panic mode," I smiled up him, "Thank you."

Edward rested his hand on the side of my face, "There is absolutely nothing to thank me for Bella. We should actually be going soon though if we want to meet up with the others before school starts."

We went upstairs and Edward grabbed a sweater from his duffle and slipped it over his head before he picked up the one I wore yesterday and gently put it over my own head, "Can't have you getting cold…plus I think it looks better on you."

I blushed, "Thank you, although at this point I don't think you're going to be getting it back anytime soon," I picked up my backpack.

Edward smirked and kissed my forehead, "Consider it yours," he slung his duffle bag over his shoulder, picked up his own backpack and led the way out to the car.

I looked at the time and saw that it was only eight thirty so we had another half an hour before school started, thankfully it was the first day so I wasn't the only one who needed to get their schedule, and I figured that the others would be on their way as well. It took only about five minutes to drive to Forks High and before I knew it Edward was out and opening my door for me. He grabbed both of our bags from the trunk of the car and guided me over to a shaded picnic table just off of the parking lot. Dropping the bags on the ground, Edward sat on the table and I sat in between his legs on the bench as we waited for the others.

"So how do we get our schedules here?" I asked, leaning against Edward's knee and looking up at him.

"We all go to the cafeteria and they have stations set up for sections of the alphabet and we find the first letter of our last name and they have our schedule, saves us the hassle of trying to go in during the summer to pick it up," he gently reached over to brush the hair out of my face, "That and it doesn't take too long this way with such a small number of students."

I nodded and saw Emmett's Jeep pull into the parking lot. We watched as Emmett and Jasper jumped out of the front seat and opened the back doors to help Rose and Alice down. Alice was the first to see us and she skipped over and pulled Jasper behind her while Rose and Emmett followed at a slower pace.

"Bella, aren't you excited? I love the first day of school," Alice sat on the ground in front of us and Jasper sprawled off on his stomach behind her.

Emmett and Rose mimicked the way Edward and I were sitting and Rose leaned over to give me a hug, "She's been like this the whole ride here, and Emmet said she was bouncing off the walls at home as well."

Emmett growled, "She got up at five thirty, who in their right mind gets up at five thirty in the morning?" He shot Edward a pitiful look, "She woke me up man, she actually woke me up."

"Better you than me, I didn't want to get up when I did and that was at seven," Edward smirked at his brother.

Rose and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes and Alice just grinned innocently at her brothers.

As it got closer to nine o'clock more and more cars pulled into the parking lot and I watched as a couple of guys walked over to us. The two of them were pretty tall and although they weren't as big as Emmett I could tell they each had a fair amount of muscle. One had pale skin, blonde hair that was tied in a low ponytail and his eyes had a greyish hint to them while the other seemed to be his opposite with dark skin, his dark hair in dreadlocks that were tied back, and eyes that were such a dark brown they were nearly black.

"Cullens, Hales," the blonde greeted before his eyes came to a rest on me, "And who's this beauty?"

"Laurent, James," Emmett nodded at each of them, "This is Edward's girl, Bella. Bellsy this is Laurent and James, they're on the football team."

"Ah, the good looking ones are always taken," James smirked, "Although it is about time that Edward found someone, we were starting to worry about you dude."

I worriedly looked up at Edward but he just laughed, "So says the one who's girlfriend conveniently lives out of state so who knows if she really exists."

James laughed as well and he and Laurent sat at the picnic table beside ours.

Laurent rolled his eyes and nodded towards me, "It's nice to meet you Bella, just ignore these two, that's what I do when they get like this. Anyways, Emmett, we actually came over here to find out if you know if you had any plans to be opposition to us nominating you as team captain this year."

Emmett, who was whispering something to Rose, whipped his head up to stare at the two, "What?"

"Well who else would we choose?" James asked, smirking at him, "You're the best player we've got, and your strategies are bloody amazing man. We'll have to talk to coach, but we're sure that even if we didn't you'll still get it."

"Thanks guys," Emmett still looked shocked as Rose leaned up to kiss him quickly.

"Edward, we saw Alec a little bit ago, which probably means that Jane is around here too," Laurent said, and I saw everyone look around as if expecting someone to jump out from behind a bush.

"Who're Alec and Jane," I asked, wondering why everyone was so nervous.

Jasper spoke up, rolling over onto his back, "Alec is on the baseball team, a pretty cool guy, and Jane is his sister. She's a bit strange, and she's had it out for Edward since he turned her down two years ago when the two of them first moved here with their parents from Italy."

"Total whore," Rose muttered, "She sleeps with practically every guy and fights with all the girls. Don't worry though Bells, we won't leave you alone with her."

Edward shivered and leaned down so he was at my level, "Sorry about this, Bells."

I kissed his cheek, "Nothing to apologize for Edward."

The bell rang then so we all got up and Edward picked up both of our bags as we made our way towards the front doors. I followed the others to the cafeteria and Edward brought me over to the R-U section and waited with me as I got my schedule then we went to the A-E group and Edward got his.

Looking around I saw that the room had students walking all over but it didn't look full, "Edward, is this seriously everyone?"

He laughed, "There might be a few missing, but for the most part yeah."

I glanced around again, "But there must only be maybe just over two hundred students walking around in here."

"Yeah, we almost had to join together with other nearby towns but somehow they pulled it off to keep us in our own separate schools," Edward explained, pulling me through a cluster of students who were standing right at the doors of the cafeteria and we met up with the other four who were standing by a picture of a large elephant which I found pretty funny.

"Okay let me see what you've got," Rose snatched my schedule from my hands and grabbed everyone else's before I could even blink, causing us all to laugh, then she started listing who I had what class with "Hush, anyways you have chemistry with Alice; Spanish with me; English with Jasper and Emmett; math with Emmett; lunch; biology with Edward; art with Jasper and Edward; gym with Emmett, Jasper, Edward and I; and we all have music together. Not bad at all and you'll have someone in each class and we can show you from one class to the next. Now, we should get to first period otherwise we're going to be late," she handed back our schedules before walking away with Emmett.

Edward kissed my cheek and I could see Jasper doing the same with Alice, "Give me your phone for a sec."

Curiously I handed him my cell and watched as he pushed a couple of buttons and when he handed it back I smiled as he saw that he had put his number in for me, and had take mine to put in his, "Thank you."

He pulled me to him in a quick hug, "You're more than welcome Bells, if there's anything you need just call me. We'll see you guys at lunch."

Alice and I nodded and we separated from the two, linking our arms together as we walked through the halls. I tried to memorize the way we went as she pulled me along.

"We are going to have so much fun," Alice squealed, practically glowing with joy.

I laughed as we finally entered the classroom and Alice led me to where the teacher was sitting writing something on the board, "Mrs. Costella this is Bella Swan."

"Ah, Bella, yes I was told you were going to be coming this year," she smiled at me and I smiled back, getting the feeling that I would get along with her really well, "You two can just sit anywhere, there's no seating plan yet as it's just the first day."

"Thank you," I said softly.

Alice and I chose table near the middle of the room and each of us pulled out a notebook and a pen.

"So?" Alice leaned towards me.

I shot her a confused look, "So what?"

"You and my brother, duh," she gave me a look as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What about us?" I asked, making sure that the class wasn't ready to start yet and realized that we still had another couple of minutes.

"How did he ask you out? What does your dad think about it? How long have you liked him? I need details Bella," she scooted her chair closer to mine.

"Well it was the day we had gone to the mall and he asked me while he was waiting with me for my dad to get home. We had just finished watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off and he looked like he had something on his mind. When he started to tell me what it was he kissed me, really softly. After he realized what he did he started rambling slightly about how he should've asked first and how he liked me, I actually grabbed his lips together to get him to stop then reassured him that I liked him as well. He asked me out after that and my dad was perfectly fine with it when he got home, I think he actually really likes Edward. As for how long I've liked him, I'm not really sure, it kind of snuck up on me, but it seems like it was since I first saw him."

Alice squealed and looked like she wanted to ask something else when the bell rang, causing her to scowl and turn to face the front of the class and I did the same.

The rest of the class was spent with the Mrs. Costella handing out the syllabus, filling in the seating plan, and just a general introduction to the class, also telling us that we would be getting our lockers within the next week. It ended fairly quickly and after packing up our notebook and papers Alice and I left the room and she walked me to the Spanish room, apparently her next class was next to it.

Rose was already standing outside of the room by the time we got there and we said our goodbyes to Alice and sat in two seats that were in a back corner.

"Having a good day so far?" Rose asked as we waited for everyone else to arrive.

"Well it's only been one class, but it was pretty good," I said, jumping when someone touched my shoulder. Looking behind me I saw James sit in front of Rose and I with a smaller blonde with blue eyes.

"Hey Rose, Bella," he put away his MP3 player and gestured to the guy sitting beside him, "Bella, this is Alec, he's on the baseball team with Edward."

"Nice to meet you," Alec grinned, "And it's a pleasure to see you again Rose, as always."

Rose just rolled her eyes and pushed both of their shoulders so they turned to face the front, and not a minute too soon. The teacher, who introduced himself as Mr. Gonzalez, called attention to the front of the room and began pretty much what Mrs. Costella had in chem. He handed out the papers, as well as a vocabulary list of words he said would be coming up frequently in the term. The class ended fairly quickly and soon enough we were packing up our things.

"So what do you ladies have next?" James winked at Rose, who reached up and cuffed him upside the head.

"I have physics and Bella has English," Rose led the way from the class room and started to guide me through the halls.

"Well I have English as well so I can show Bella the way since physics is on the other side of the building," James offered, taking my arm and pulling me away from the other two, "See you guys later."

I giggled as he pulled a couple of doors down before turning into a classroom, "All that for a room that's this close?"

James laughed, "All the language classes are close to each other, French is in this corner as well."

The desks in this room were set up in groups of four so James and I picked a spot and sat diagonal from one another and we saved the other two seats for Jasper and Emmett. Emmett bounded into the room with Jasper walking behind him.

"Bellsy, James," Emmett flopped into the seat across from me and Jasper sat beside me.

"He was hyper all last period," Jasper explained, rubbing his temples.

Emmett stuck his tongue out at Jasper, "Well Coach came to see me about being captain for the team," he beamed proudly.

"Congrats Em," I grinned.

"See, someone's happy for me," he turned his head, nose high in the air, away from Jasper before turning to talk to James about some new football plays he thought the team should try.

Jasper just rolled his eyes and leaned his elbows onto the table, "I'm plenty happy for him, I just really didn't need him bouncing up and down all through French and almost get us sent to the principal's office on the first day."

"Both of you?" I cautiously looked towards Emmett.

He laughed, "Yeah, don't ask how, I'm not even fully sure. I think most teachers see who he's with in a class and just hold them responsible for his behaviour at this point."

Shaking my head I looked up when I saw a shadow fall across our tables. I saw an elderly woman who seemed to be stricter than the other two teachers I've had today.

"You must be Isabella Swan," she looked me up and down, then giving a doubtful look towards Emmett, "I will tell you now that I do not accept misbehaviour in my classroom."

"Yes ma'am," I smiled slightly and she nodded as she handed us each a booklet of papers before walking to the next group. I looked at Jasper, "I see your point."

Jasper threw his head back and laughed, "Told you so. Mrs. Mayers is alright as long as you stay on her good side."

I nodded and looked through the papers we were given and saw a schedule, classroom rules, vocabulary list and a reading list. I grinned when I saw we would be reading Pride and Prejudice would be the first book we were reading.

"Alright, you can look through these on your own then talk quietly amongst yourselves," Mrs. Mayers gave everyone a sharp look, "Don't think this will be a common thing, unless I give you all permission you are to be silent."

There was a murmur of agreement before soft voices filled the room.

"Everything going okay so far, Bella?" Jasper asked, sticking his booklet into his bag.

"Yeah, so far it's alright," I leaned down and rested my head on my folded arms, "No one's come up to me and said anything about me being the new girl so that's an upside."

"Good, and you're with Emmett next period and that alone should keep many people way as well," he smirked, and I had to admit, no one else at the school so far was as big as Emmett.

The bell rang and Emmett was up and had picked up both of our bags before I could even move and once I was standing he wrapped an arm securely around my shoulders, "See you two later," he called over his shoulder as we headed down a flight of stairs towards the ground floor of the building.

The desks here were all singles but Emmett pulled me to two beside each other in the back of the room, "Sorry, if I sit in front of anyone I block their view," he handed me my backpack.

I laughed, "This is fine, math definitely isn't my favourite class anyway."

Emmett turned leaned over and wrapped an arm around the back of my chair, "If we didn't have to take it, I wouldn't be sitting here."

"I couldn't agree with you more," I shuddered and faced the front of the room when a fairly young man walked through the room to sit on the desk.

"Welcome to math, as most of you know I'm Mr. Valentino. Now, we do have a new student this year, Isabella Swan, so welcome," he nodded towards me and I could instantly feel my face start to get hot as I tried to duck out of view by burying my face against Emmett's arm. Mr. Valentino passed out the syllabus for the class and briefly went over everything before we were left to our own devices.

Emmett let out a booming laugh, "You were doing so well, Bella."

I glared up at him, "You bug me."

"If it helps, not everyone turned around to look at you," he sheepishly looked around, and I gave him an unbelieving look causing him to sigh, "Okay, so it was everyone. But you just have such a pretty face for everyone to look at, I'm sure Edward would agree."

I rolled my eyes, packing up my things as the bell rang, and frowning as Emmett took my bag from me again.

"Well it's either this or I carry _you_ to the cafeteria," he moved to grab me but I shrieked and moved out of the way. "C'mon, I'm hungry and I know Edward will want to see you and see how your first day is going."

I grinned and wrapped my arm around his waist as we headed through the students walking along the halls and towards the lunchroom. We entered and saw Edward and Jasper sitting at a table off in a corner of the room and we headed over to them.

"Gentlemen, how you be?" Emmett asked, putting our bags down under the table and sprawling off in a chair.

Jasper rolled his eyes from where he was sitting with his chair backwards, and Edward ignored his brother and pulled me to sit in his lap.

"He still hasn't calmed down?" Jasper asked, watching as Emmett started bouncing in his seat.

"I was perfectly fine last period, thank you very much Jazzy-pooh," Emmett insisted, kicking Jasper under the table.

Rose and Alice walked up behind him and both of them reached over to smack him on either shoulder.

"First of all, ouch," Emmett pouted, "And secondly, since everyone's here now, can we _please_ go get food?"

We all laughed as Emmett jumped up and pulled Rose towards the food line. Jasper and Edward stood up as well, pushing Alice and I into our seats.

"We'll go get lunch, we'll be back," Jasper informed us, and he and Edward walked away before Alice and I could protest.

"Huh…well that works," Alice slipped off her designer side bag and set it carefully on the floor beside her.

I grinned and watched as Rose sauntered her way back to the table before sitting in the seat between Alice and I.

"Emmett said he'd carry the tray and wait for the other two," she explained, pointing to where the three guys were making their way towards us, each holding a tray.

Edward sat the tray down and pulled me up so he could sit in the chair and I was sitting in his lap. I watched as the others did the same and Edward offered me one of the tuna sandwiches off of the tray and I grinned when I saw there was a cream soda as well.

Leaning up I kissed his cheek, "Thank you."

"You're more than welcome, Bells," he kept one arm around my waist and used the other to eat his own sandwich, "How's everything so far?"

"It's alright," I leaned my head against his shoulder, "I've pretty much been left alone which is good."

"Good, I would have come between classes to get to you, but…" he shrugged hopelessly.

"Don't worry about it," I smiled at him, "I wasn't left alone, and now you have me for the whole afternoon."

He sighed, "Finally."

Alice was bouncing on Jasper's lap, "Bella, would Charlie let you spend the night at our place tonight?"

I bit my lip, "I don't think so, after what happened yesterday I think he wants to keep me close to him right now."

"Do you think he'd let us sleep over there then?" Alice asked and, leaning across the table, "We need to have a girl's night."

I felt Edward's chest start to rumble as a low growl started to build up, I gently started to rub my hand over his arm to relax him, "I don't know Alice, I'll have to ask when my dad gets home from work."

Edward huffed lowly, I doubted anyone but me could hear, and tightened his arms around me.

I turned my head to look at him, whispering, "What's wrong?"

He dipped his head down to rest on my shoulder, "Sorry, I just don't want to be far from you for longer than needed, and I know Alice's girls' nights are a no guys allowed zone."

I giggled and kissed his cheek before turning back to Alice, "Why don't I ask if you all can come over, if you guys want to of course, and Alice we can still have Thai food."

Rose jumped in, "If it's alright with Charlie that sounds like fun."

Jasper struggled to hold Alice down as she started bouncing in his lap, "Calm down little pixie."

Emmett shrugged, and folded a piece of pizza in half before shoving the entire piece in his mouth causing all of us to turn away. I noticed that Edward had relaxed and I smiled as I picked up an apple to nibble on as everyone started talking about how their morning had gone and catching each other up on their classmates, a conversation I kept out of as I didn't know anyone that they were talking about.

The bell rang and we all got up and, after picking up our bags and throwing away our garbage, we all went to our separate classes, with Edward holding me tightly to him the whole way to biology.

"Hey Mr. Banner," Edward nodded towards the teacher seated behind his desk and, after a quick look around, I noticed we were the first to arrive to class.

"Edward, welcome back," he smiled at me, "And you must be Isabella, welcome to Forks. Why don't you two take your seats and we'll wait for everyone else to arrive?"

"Thank you sir, and it's just Bella," I smiled before following Edward to a table near the front of the room and he took my hand in his as we put our bags on the table and sat down.

"Do you need anything?" Edward asked, pulling out his notebook and pen as well as two water bottles, handing me one.

I mimicked Edward's movements and pulled out the notebook and pen in case there was anything that needed written down and played with Edward's hand, "Nope, I'm perfectly fine."

"Hello lovebirds," we looked up and saw James and Laurent just taking their seats at the table in front of us.

I blushed and Edward smirked, "Hello loser, Laurent."

"I'm not a loser," James boasted, "I can always kick your ass."

"You couldn't get close enough," Laurent pointed out, "Emmett would beat your ass from hear to Canada if you even attempted anything."

James glared at him, "Rub it why don't you?"

Edward laughed, "It's not my fault if Emmett is probably more protective than he should be."

I rolled my eyes and smiled up at him, "It must be another Cullen gene."

He grinned and, after brushing my hair out of my face, turned to the front of the class where Mr. Banner was calling for the class's attention.

"Alright everyone, we have another full year a head of us and so we're going to make the most of it," Mr. Banner handed out textbooks and a class schedule, "The person beside you will be your partner for the rest of the year, so I hope for your benefit you get along with him or her. Take the rest of the class to go through your textbooks and read over the papers I've just given you," he paused and looked around, "Or do whatever you want and I'll pretend that you're doing reading for the class."

James and Laurent spun back around and Laurent pulled out a deck of cards, "Texas hold 'em anyone?"

Laurent and Edward agreed but I shook my head, "I'll sit this one out," I pulled my copy of Pride and Prejudice and after opening it to my marked page I curled into Edward's side to read.

I quickly lost myself in the wonderful story of Jane and Mr. Darcy and so I was startled when Edward started to reach around me and pack up our things, "Is class over already?"

"Yup," he picked up both of our bags and we walked with Laurent to the basement of the school where I was told all the art classes were held.

We walked in and saw Jasper already sitting at a table off to the side of the room so we went and sat down beside him as Laurent went across the room to sit with some other guys. Soon after we sat down Alec walked in with a smaller blonde girl and he joined us while she went to a group of girls sitting in the back.

Edward shrunk down in his seat, "_That_ was Jane."

Jasper and Alec laughed and I looked back at her, only to see her glaring at me.

"Don't worry Bella," Jasper reassured me, "She's probably just upset that Edward seems to have a girlfriend that's not her. We won't leave you alone with her at anytime though."

Alec grimaced, "She really is something else, and not necessarily in a good way either."

"Um…she's really that bad?" I bit my lip, but Edward kept one of my hands firmly in his own.

"Unfortunately," Jasper shuddered.

"At least you don't have to live with her," Alec pointed out, wincing.

The teacher walked in the room and immediately started handing out blank pieces of paper, "Alight, I want each of you to sketch something, doesn't matter what, so I can get an idea of what you're all capable of. As for the tools you'll need for this class sketching pencils, pencil crayons, pastels, a ruler, erasers, and a sketch book. I expect you to have these things by next week. You have the rest of your class to finish your sketch and then hand them in at the end of the class on your way out."

I leaned over to Jasper, "What's her name?"

"Ms. Robinson, she's a new teacher here, just started near the middle of last year when the main art teacher went on maternity leave," he explained, "She's really easy for students to talk to if they need help with something not related to school."

I nodded, "Okay, I'll keep that in mind, thanks," I pulled out my pencil and glanced around the room, drying to decide what to sketch. I finally decided to sketch Edward as he was laughing at Alec's drawing of a stickman.

I very carefully began to outline his head and facial features, biting my lip as I concentrated on not messing up the perfection that is Edward. Next I worked on his unruly hair, grinning as he ran his fingers through his hair as he got frustrated drawing what looked like a fruit of some kind. I had just started on his shoulders when Ms. Robinson announced that our time was up, just as the bell rang.

Jasper snatched my paper from me as we packed up our things, "Bella, this is really good."

I blushed, "Thanks, I used to draw a lot back in Phoenix," I looked at his own sketch of Alice, "This is so adorable, very life like."

He grinned, "You and I are going to get along great in this class, especially watching these two struggle."

I looked at Edward and Alec and saw them looking extremely flustered and laughed, causing Edward to turn towards me.

"Is there something you find funny Bella?" he wrapped his arms around my waist as we waited for Alec to pack up his notebook, and he saw my drawing in Jasper's hands, "Jasper, we've gone over this before. No more drawing me, school assignment or not."

"I didn't," Jasper shrugged and handed me back my paper.

"I'm sorry," I went to put the paper in my bag, "I won't do it again, I promise."

He immediately grabbed it from me, put my name on it and handed it in with his own, "Don't be sorry Bells, for you it's perfectly fine," he kissed my cheek and wrapped an arm around my waist as we walked towards the gym.

"Are you sure? If it upsets you I won't do it anymore," I anxiously played with the sleeves of Edward's sweater that I was wearing.

"You're really good, and it doesn't bother me at all, okay?" As we neared the gym I could see Rose and Emmett leaning against the wall.

"So why can Bella draw you buy I can't?" Jasper asked, walking backwards so he could see us, and Alec was making sure he didn't walk into anything.

Edward rolled his eyes, "Because I trust Bella not to start drawing my face on other people's bodies, try to draw me in the guys' locker room, or after I've fallen in the mud then use it for a poster to promote the baseball team."

I looked at the two of them, shocked, "The locker room Jasper, seriously?"

"He's making it sound worse than it is," Jasper reassured me, pulling me closer to him and away from Edward, "It's not like he was naked or anything. Would you let me draw you Bella? I need to practice, and you can pick when and where?"

"Sure," I grinned and jumped as Edward pulled me back to him I looked up and saw him glaring at Jasper, but I only grinned as we finally reached Rose and Emmett.

"You guys ready? Coach said wed don't have to get changed today and we'll just be going through the rules," Emmett pulled us all into the guy and over to the bleachers.

There was a large group of guys as well as a couple of girls sitting in the center of the bleachers. I saw Emmett headed right over to them and the others continued to follow him. I slowed down slightly so I was walking beside Edward. He took my hand in his and guided me over, thankfully letting me sit in between him and Jasper.

One of the guys in front of us immediately turned around to talk to Edward and Jasper leaned over, "They're all on either the football or baseball teams."

I looked at Jasper curiously, "Are you on any of the teams?"

He shrugged, "I fill in on the baseball team from time to time if a player is sick or something, but I like to sit on the stands."

Rose shoved Edward over so he was beside Emmett and she was beside me, "How's the afternoon been?"

"It was fine, thank you for asking dear sister," Jasper chuckled, leaning backwards with his elbows on the bench behind him.

"I wasn't talking to you, I was rather hoping you were having a crummy day," she scowled at Jasper before smiling at me, "How was your afternoon Bella?"

I laughed, "It was alright, this is the class I've been dreading."

Rose grinned but before she could say anything a high pitch voice cut in from behind us, "Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

The three of us turned around and saw who I recognized as Jane from last period. Rose immediately glared at her and nudged Edward's shoulder.

"Yeah, Rose?" he turned around and glared as well when he realized what was going on.

"Get lost, Jane," Alec said, noticing the commotion.

"No, I don't think I will, and I don't think I was talking to any of you so butt out and mind your own business," she snarled, with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face, "So, you must be Isabella Swan," I barely nodded before she pulled me into a tight hug, her long nails digging into my sides where the sweater had ridden up slightly when I turned, "Edward Cullen is mine, back off New Girl."

Wincing just slightly, I watched as she walked to the end of the bleachers where I'm guessing her friends were.

Edward reached around Rose to pull me into his lap and I tucked my head into the crook of his neck, "So sorry about that Bella, are you okay?"

I nodded, knowing he wouldn't see the scratches that I'm sure were on my sides. Rose shifted around us and between Emmett and Edward and Edward lowered me onto the bench between him and Jasper but he kept an arm wrapped tightly around my shoulders, keeping me to him. I hesitated before leaning against him, knowing that Jane was probably watching us from where she sat.

Just then a fairly muscular man walked through the gym doors and stood in front of where we all sat on the bleachers, "Okay we're here at the beginning of another year, some of you want to be in this class, some of you don't and quite frankly I don't care and I don't want to hear any whining about it. Ms. Swan, welcome to Forks and to my class I'm Mr. Webber, come see me after class and we'll get you a gym uniform. So…" and he continued to give us the rules of the class, when we would be starting each sport, and demonstrations of the different exercises we would be doing at the beginning of each class.

Soon enough the class ended and Jasper and Rose led me to Mr. Webber as Edward and Emmett were both bombarded by a group of guys.

"Isabella, or do you prefer Bella?" he asked.

"Just Bella," I answered quietly.

He nodded towards me and reached into a tote that was set off to the side, and handed me a pair of shorts, track pants, a t-shirt and a sweater, "Here's your uniform, we run outside no matter what the weather unless it's freezing outside and there's ice and snow. I suggest a separate pair of shoes for the class, but that's not necessary. If you have any questions or if your having any problems feel free to come to me or I'm sure one of your friends here could help you. See you tomorrow."

We walked back over to where Edward and Emmett were waiting by the doors then walked down the hall to the music room. The chairs were set up in fairly large groups and we saw Alice sitting in a corner talking to a brown haired girl with black rimmed glasses and a boy with dusty brown hair before she bounced over and jumped into Jasper's arms.

"Hello to you too Pixie," he carried her back over to her seat and we all sat in the empty chairs there.

"Bella, these are my friends Angela and Ben and they're in our chemistry classes, guys this is Bella," Alice introduced us and looked proud of herself for doing so.

We smiled at one each other just as Edward locked his arm around my waist, causing me to wince and try to pull away.

"Is something wrong?" Edward asked, trying to get me to look him in the eyes, but I continued to look at the floor.

"Nothing," I risked glancing up and I instantly wished I didn't and I knew if he continued to look at me like that then I would have told him which I didn't want to as I didn't want to cause him any problems but at the same time I knew I wouldn't get away with not telling him anything, "Can we talk about it later then?"

He looked at me for a little bit longer before giving in, "Sure thing."

I smiled and kissed his cheek, "Thank you."

Rose looked at me suspiciously but nodded her head and let it go. Fortunately, I didn't see Jane anywhere in the class but I saw a lot of people I didn't recognize from any other classes, but I figured that they must be from the younger grades. James and Laurent came strolling into the room just before the final bell rang and they smiled innocently at the teacher who was sitting at the front of the room.

"You're both very lucky," she laughed at them, "Take your seats so we can start."

They sat in the group beside ours and ducked as Emmett took a swing at their heads, "No getting detentions and kicked off the team or else."

The teacher laughed again "Thank you Emmett. Now, for those of you who don't know I am Mrs. Manning and I'll be your teacher for the year. This is a mixed class of grades ten right through to twelve, the grade nines have their own class as theirs is a mandatory beginner's class. If any of you have an instrument at home I suggest you bring it in as we are short on funding to get new instruments," she handed out a thin book and a loose piece of paper, "What you have in front of you is your lifeline for this class. If you don't return the book at the end of the year then you fail, easy as that. The papers are the list of songs we will be doing, a form to sign saying you will treat the instruments properly, as well as the general rules for this class. The group you are sitting in now is your group for the year, you will be working together, helping each other, and finalize a piece for the final project at the end of the year together. Get acquainted with one another, quietly please."

We talked quietly to one another and I found out that Angela and I actually shared quite a few similarities in the books we read and she also plays the clarinet. The class ended quickly and we put our books and papers into our bags and filed out of the room. We said our goodbyes to Ben and Angela as we went separate ways once we walked out of the building. I followed Edward back to his car and I was surprised when Rose followed us as Jasper and Alice went to Emmett's Jeep with him.

"Rose?" Edward's eyebrows went up in shock as she climbed into the backseat and sat in the middle so she was able to lean in between the front seats and see both of us.

I shrugged when he looked at me and we both got in the car as well.

"What happened between you and Jane, Bella?" Rose asked, and I cursed her in my head for reminding Edward.

"Nothing necessarily happened," I tried to guide them both away from it, but knew it was a lost cause when I saw the look on both of their faces, "Fine, so when she went to 'hug' me she dug her nails into my sides."

Edward pulled the car over to the side of the road and climbed out and stormed over to my side of the car leaving Rose and I to stare wide-eyed at him as he yanked open my door and, after fighting with my seatbelt pulled me out as well. Rose jumped out of the car and stared at the two of us as Edward angrily pulled up the edge of his sweater and my t-shirt to reveal eight angry scratches, four on each side that were each outlined with dried blood.

We saw Emmett, who was in front of us, turn around and come back before the three of them got out and joined us as well.

"Why'd you guys stop? Couldn't this wait until we get to her place and did you have to do this in front of Rose?" Emmett stopped short when he saw what Edward was doing, "What happened?"

Edward ignored his brother, "I'll _kill_ her."

"Edward you can't hit a girl," Rose pulled me away from Edward and gently pulled my clothes back down, "But I can."

"What's going on?" Alice asked, looking between the three of us and I could see realization shine in Jasper's eyes.

"_Jane_ happened," Edward snarled, and Emmett grabbed him just as he was about to lunge back into his car.

"She's not even at the school right now anyway Edward," Jasper took the car keys from Edward and tossed them to me, "We'll head back to Bella's, calm down, and deal with this tomorrow. Now, Bella, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it looks worse than it feels," I hugged Edward and smiled when I felt his muscles start to relax and he ran his fingers through my hair slowly.

"Fine," he sighed, "Then let's get out of here before I change my mind," he took the keys from me and opened the door for me to get in before walking around and getting in behind the wheel.

Rose got back in the backseat and we followed Emmett back to my dad's house. We pulled onto the street and I was surprised at the two extra cars that were parked along the side the road. The twins had to park farther down the street and we walked back to the house. I went to put my key in the lock, but stopped when I noticed that the door was already unlocked. Stepping forward, Edward pulled me behind him and slowly opened the door and he and Emmett walked through first.

**_Author's Note: _**Thanks for reading and the next chapter isn't ready yet though I hope to have it finished soon. Hope you guys liked it and if there are any suggestions or things you really want to see happen at school specifically (or anywhere else) let me know and if I use your idea I will be sure to credit you so no worries about that :). 'Kay, that's it for me...it's after one in the morning here so I think it's about time I go to bed. Love you all.

Also, don't forget to check us out at **_www . twilighters . us / forums_** we just want to make friends and talk to fellow Twilighters so come, register, and **talk** to us...hopefully I'll see some of you there within the next couple of days?? (*puppy dog look* please)


	19. Chapter 19

_Starting Anew_

**_Author's Note:_** Okay, I know you guys probably hate me, and I'm soooo sorry it took so long. I had exams and real life came along in other ways to bite me in the butt. I have an aunt in the hospital, studying for exams took up a lot of time, and I just got over a little bit of the flu. But I'm back, and althought I feel as though this probably isn't my best chapter, I'm excited that my exams are finished and I felt that I've made you guys wait long enough so I hope you enjoy it at least a little bit. And I'm very disappointed in you guys, you guys haven't joined the forum, and if you have you're being very quiet about it. Please guys, I'll beg on my hands and knees if I have to. What would it take to get you guys to join us? **_www . twilighters . us / forums_** just remove the spaces...  
**_Disclaimer: _**Okay, by now I would think that it's obvious that I'm not Stephenie Meyer and as such I don't own Twilight.

**Chapter 19: Property of the Truth **

I traded looks with the other four and we shrugged before following them in and I grinned when I saw Edward relax and who was sitting in the living room. My dad was sitting along with Billy, Harry, Sam, Leah and Emily. I guided Edward into the room and saw the others following us. I quickly my hellos and introduced everyone.

"So, what's going on?" I asked, sitting beside Edward on the floor and leaning against my dad's chair, my dad had pulled the four chairs in from the kitchen for the others.

"Your dad told us what had happened yesterday and we wanted to make sure that you were okay," Harry answered, he was sitting with Leah on the sofa and Sam and Leah were sharing the other couch while Billy had his wheelchair pulled up in between the couch and my dad's recliner.

"I'm fine," I reassured them, especially Billy and Harry who I knew had been told about Phil when I first arrived by my dad.

"Good," Sam gave me a pointed look, "If you need anything, remember you can call me no matter what the time, remind me before I leave and I'll make sure you have the number."

"Thank you, Sam," I leaned against my dad's leg and felt Edward rest his hand on my knee.

Harry cleared his throat, "So all negativities aside, how was everyone's first day of school?"

Edward tensed up and I could see Rose getting angry again so I moved so that I was sitting in Edward's lap and shot Rose a pleading look. Alice jumped in and explained moment by moment of her highlights of the day.

"You are going to have to tell your father about Jane," Edward breathed into my ear, causing me to shiver, "And if you don't, I'll have to."

I sighed, "Later?"

"Fine, but I mean it Bella," he buried his face in my shoulder.

"Sorry for cutting this short but we probably should be heading home, the kids should be getting home from school soon, if they aren't already," Harry stood up and my dad walked them all to the door, helping Harry get Billy's wheelchair down the front steps.

"Bells," Sam pulled me aside and after searching through my phone he put my number in his phone and his in mine, "If you need anything, anything at all, I want you to call me, okay? I'll come visit soon and we'll talk and catch up, just the two of us. Love you kiddo," he kissed my forehead and I quickly wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Thank you Sam, love you too." I knew he would want to know everything that happened and that I would rather it come from me rather than him find out through someone else.

We walked out to where the others were and I stood between Rose and Edward as we watched Billy, Sam and Emily get in one car while Harry and Leah got in the other and both cars took off towards La Push.

"So, you kids staying for dinner?" my dad ushered us all back into the house and we put away the kitchen chairs before going Rose and Emmett sat on one end of the couch with Edward and I on the other and Alice and Jasper on the chair near us and my dad in his recliner.

"Actually dad, I was wondering if maybe they could spend the night, if that's okay?" I asked, leaning against Edward's chest.

My dad smiled at us, "It's fine with me, as long as it's alright with each of your parents. Why don't you kids go and ask your parents and if it is okay then bring over an overnight bag and Bella and I will figure out something for dinner."

Alice squealed and skipped across the room to hug my dad before taking charge and ordering everyone out of the house and into Emmett's Jeep. My dad stared bewildered after them and I laughed as Edward reluctantly let me go and, dragging his feet, he followed the others out of the door, after giving me a pointed look.

I sighed as my dad and I walked into the kitchen and I pulled out the ingredients to make Thai food, just as I promised Alice we would have that day in the mall. As the two of us worked in a comfortable silence, the only words being spoken were the directions I was giving to him as we cooked. I didn't know how to bring up the subject of Jane, not that I thought he really had to know but for some reason Edward was intent on telling him.

"Um…dad, can I talk to you about something?" I leaned against the counter while keeping an eye on the food that was cooking on the stovetop.

He took a seat at the kitchen table, "You know you can talk to me about anything sweetheart. Is something wrong?"

"No, or at least I don't think so," I took a deep breath to calm myself, "There's this girl at school who, apparently, doesn't like how close I am to Edward and well…" I trailed off and, after taking off the sweatshirt, I pulled up the sides of my shirt just enough so that the scratches were visible, wincing as the material rubbed against the raw skin.

I heard him gasp as he moved around me to turn off the stove and disappeared into the bathroom, coming back holding the first aid kit. He lifted me up so I was sitting on the counter and he cleaned off the scratches before covering them carefully.

"I'm not going to pry into your business Bells, and I trust that if it gets to the point where you can't handle it you'll come to me," he smirked as he helped me down off of the counter and back into my sweater, "Besides, I trust Edward to look after you when I can't."

I laughed, "I don't know whether to be glad you get along with my boyfriend or upset that you're both working together and always trying to protect me from everything," I kissed his cheek, "Thanks dad."

"I'm your father Bells, it's my job to worry about you," he gave me a quick hug and helped me put the food on the table in a buffet style just as there was a knock on the door, he went to go answer it while I got out the plates and cans of coke fur us and a beer for my dad.

I felt two arms wrap around my waist, "Hello Beautiful."

Turning around I smiled up at Edward, "Hello yourself, what did your parents say?"

"Esme said it was no problem, as long as I bring you with me after school tomorrow so she can see you again, she really likes you and wants to see you around the house more often," he took the cans from me, "So did you tell your dad what happened today?"

"Yes, just before you came back," I noticed he still had his bag with him so I pulled him towards the stairs where the others were still taking off their shoes, "We can put your bags upstairs in my room and the food's all ready so we can eat once that's done."

Everyone picked up their bags and I noticed Alice and Rose each brought two and had Jasper and Emmett bringing one of them up the stairs for them, by the looks of it they were carrying the heavier ones. I led them all up the stairs to my room and told them to just drop off their bags wherever.

"Where are all your backpacks?" I asked, noticing that none of them had their backpacks with them.

"We left those in the car, none of us had homework so there was no point in bringing them in," Jasper explained, breathing heavily as he placed Alice's bag down, under Alice's watchful eye of course.

I gave Alice's and Rose's extra bags a doubtful look, "What are those for?"

"Even though the guys are intruding on our girls' night," Alice glared at her brothers and boyfriend, "We're still going to be doing girly things so we brought hair and nail supplies."

I groaned, "Oh."

Edward laughed as we all went downstairs where my dad was looking for something in the cupboards.

"Dad, what are you looking for?" I asked, nodding at Emmett who seemed to be bouncing in place and he bounded around all of us to load food onto a plate.

"The forks and knives," he explained, pulling them out triumphantly, "I reorganized the cupboards recently and I couldn't remember where I had put them."

I laughed as we all got our food and sat beside Edward on the living room floor as there wasn't enough room for us all to sit around the kitchen table. Jasper was sitting in the chair with Alice on the floor by his feet, Rose and Emmett were on the couch and my dad was in his recliner. We all ate quietly until my dad stood up brought his plate to the kitchen and said he was going to go upstairs and give us some privacy.

Once we had all finished and the plates were brought into the kitchen I started to wash the dishes and the pans I had used to cook while Alice stood beside me drying. The others were looking through my dad's DVD collection for something Rose could deem acceptable to watch.

Alice and I finished off quickly and we went upstairs to get their hair and nail bags that she insisted be brought down. Walking back into the living room we set the bags down and sat on the couch to wait for the others to finish, which looked like it could take a while because Rose was rejecting all of the guys' choices.

Edward came over and sat beside me, "I give up, where are the blankets and whatnot?"

I laughed at his dishevelled hair, which he had apparently taken his frustrations out on, "They're upstairs in the linen closet."

Alice giggled, before taking pity on the boys, "Why don't you guys go with Bella to get blankets and pillows and I'll help Rose pick the movie and set up the hair supplies and nail polish."

Edward immediately agreed and jumped up, pulling me with him, "Jazz, Em, let's go get the blankets, Alice says they can handle getting the movie."

The two guys smiled gratefully at Alice before following Edward and I up the stairs to the hall closet.

"How many do we need?" I pulled out two of the thicker blankets and tried to get the third from the bottom of the pile of blankets and sheets.

"Just three should be good," Jasper leaned down to help me while Emmett had flopped down on the two blankets and Edward was trying to get him up.

We gathered up the blankets and had Emmett and Edward go to get the pillows from each of their bags and mine off of my bed. Edward made sure I walked in the back as each of us, with our arms loaded down, struggled to get down the stairs without falling. We got to the living room to find the TV off and Alice and Rose sitting on the couch, thankfully their torture bags were still closed.

"What's going on?" Edward asked, dropping the three pillows he was carrying.

"Well, we decided we've watched enough movies the past couple of days so we're going to play truth or dare instead," So we should figure out where everyone is going to sleep, get changed, and pop some popcorn so we don't have to move once we get settled in."

We all agreed and it was decided that Emmett and Rose were going to sleep on the couch, Alice and Jasper on the floor, and Edward and I on my dad's recliner. The guys went upstairs to get changed first and the girls and I put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and got out cans of coke for everyone. We heard footsteps from behind us and once we turned around I was surprised how well each of their pjs fit their personalities, then I figured it must have been Alice's work. Emmett was wearing flannel pyjama bottoms with yellow smiley faces all over them, Jaspers were covered in army camouflage and Edward's were covered in music notes, all three of them had black wife beaters on top.

"Your turn ladies," Edward took the bowl for the popcorn from my hands, "Did you want me to pop another bag as well?"

I looked behind him where Emmett was staring at the microwave with his mouth watering, "Yeah, that might be a good idea."

"C'mon Bella, we brought the perfect pyjama set for you," Alice dragged me behind her as Rose walked behind us laughing.

"But Alice, I have my own, you didn't need to bring any for me," I tried to wiggle out of her grasp.

She turned to glare at me as I was shoved into my room, "Please Bella? You'll look really cute in them, I just know it."

Sighing I agreed and she shoved a pair of short shorts that were a deep blue and a tank top that was a lighter blue and had a moon in the center of it. The three of us turned away from one another as we changed and once we were done I turned back around to see the other two in similar outfits except Alice's was a bright yellow short with a pale yellow tank that had a sun on it and Rose's were a deep red pair of shorts with a light pink tank top that had a pair of lips on the front.

"Perfect," Alice shoved me through to the washroom where we brushed our teeth, I also washed the blood off of my sides that I had completely forgotten about, and then we went back down the stairs and noticed the guys were laying out blankets so we turned into the kitchen to grab the two bowls and six cans.

"Hey Bel –" Emmett walked up from behind us and cracked up; his face was turning red because he was laughing so hard.

"What's so funny Em?" Edward glanced down at his brother, looked up at me, then glared at his sister, "Alice, was that really necessary?"

"Yes, big brother, it really was," Alice smirked before walking around her brothers and into the living room and that was when I was able to get a good look at the back of her pjs and I wondered how I didn't notice it before.

There, on the back of her shorts, it said _Property of Jasper Hale_ and looking over at Rose I saw the same thing except it said Emmett Cullen. I risked a glance at the back of my own, and sure enough it said Edward's name.

Rose laughed as she followed Alice, "You really should be more observant Bells."

Emmett stood up, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes, "You should have seen your faces," he grabbed the two cans and the bowl from me before following after his girlfriend.

"I am so sorry about this," Edward pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned against the counter.

Leaning up, I kissed his cheek, "Its fine, I kinda like it."

His eyes went wide before he threw his head back and laughed, "You've been spending too much time with Alice."

Shrugging, I walked around him and groaned when I saw Alice going through one of their torture bags.

Rose took pity on me, "Don't worry so much Bella, they aren't for tonight, she's looking for what to use on you tomorrow morning."

I sat on Edward's lap once he was sitting, "That doesn't make me feel much better," I watched as Jasper was able to pry Alice away from the bag.

Emmett wrapped an arm around Rose's waist and pulled her against his chest, "So, I will go first for truth or dare and I pick Jasper, so buddy truth or dare?"

Jasper eyed Emmett warily, "I don't think I should trust you, but dare."

"I dare you not to touch Alice for ten minutes…which means," He got up and pulled Alice off of his lap and over to where Rose was sitting on the couch.

Jasper rolled his eyes at Emmett before looking at Rose, "Truth or dare sis?"

"Dare, brother dear," Rose smirked.

Jasper got up and whispered something in her ear that caused her to pale drastically and glare at him as he got back to his seat.

Rose got up and pulled me off of Edward's lap and gave me a gentle shove towards Jasper, mouthing a quick apology before sitting herself in Edward's lap and kissing him quickly on the lips.

I sat on Jasper's knee and gave him a confused look, "What did you tell her?"

"Payback for Emmett, sorry though," he rested an arm around my waist, "Told her to sit on Edward's lap and kiss him every three minutes."

I laughed at Edward's disgruntled look as he, Rose and Emmett glared at Jasper. Alice and I grinned at one another and Jasper had a satisfied smirk on his face.

"It's your turn Rose," Jasper reminded his sister, resting his chin on my shoulder as he chuckled under his breath.

Rose glared and turned to Edward, "Well, since I'm here anyway, Edward truth or dare?"

"Dare," he shifted Rose so they were seated more comfortably and shot me an apologetic look which I shook my head as a way of telling him not to worry about it.

Rose looked thoughtful for a second, before a wicked glint glinted in her eyes, "Alright then Edward, I dare you to call Jane and ask her out."

"No way, that's where I draw the line," Edward's eyes went wide and he grimaced, "Besides, I don't even have her cell number."

Alice jumped up and grabbed her cell phone, "But I do."

Jasper chuckled, "Here, use my phone, my phone is set to private so she can't find out the number."

I tried not to laugh as Edward realized he was cornered and couldn't get out of it. Alice skipped over and got Jasper's phone, careful not to touch him, and brought both phones to Edward. He reluctantly dialled the number and put it on speaker, all the while I could hear him repeating '_Please don't pick up_' under his breath.

"_Hello?_" we heard her annoyed voice filter through the phone.

"Jane?" Edward chocked out, clearing his throat before continuing, "It's Edward."

"_Edward, what a surprise! Did you finally come to your senses about that Swan girl?_" I could see everyone tense, Alice having to cover Emmett's mouth so he wouldn't make any sounds, and felt Jasper's fingers gently run over where my scratches are.

"Uh…" Edward looked at me apologetically, "Yeah, and I was wondering if you would like to go to the movies or something tomorrow night?"

"_Of course,_" her voice had a satisfied ring to it, "_I knew you couldn't be serious about someone like her, I mean she's just so plain._"

Edward growled, "Listen, you giant pain in the ass, Bella is more than you'll ever be. If I ever hear about you hurting her, physically or otherwise, I will personally make sure you aren't around to hurt anyone again. You, and your annoying little friends, will stay far, _far_ away from all of us," he snapped the phone shut and dropped it on the floor beside the chair.

We all stared wide-eyed at Edward as Alice quietly got up and switched spots with me as Jasper's ten minute dare was up. I went to sit on the couch beside Emmett, but he pulled me over to sit on his knee, not moving his eyes away from Edward.

"Wow man, didn't know you had it in you," Emmett broke the silence and I jumped as he let out a booming laugh.

Edward shook his head and manoeuvred his way out from under Rose and stormed out of the room. We all stared after him before turning to look at one another.

"I have never seen Edward that angry before," Alice whispered, leaning into Jasper's side.

Rose slumped back into the chair, "Whoa, I thought he was going to crush the phone."

Jasper and Emmett didn't say anything, but Emmett gave me a nudge and tilted his head towards the stairs. I bit my lip and nodded as I made my way out of the room and up the stairs to my closed bedroom door.

I knocked softly and when there was no answer I slowly opened the door and stuck my head in. I saw Edward lying on my bed with his headphones in, his eyes were closed and I could see him taking deep breaths. Realizing he hadn't heard me knock I quietly went to sit by his side and ran my fingers through is hair, smiling when he opened his eyes and looked up at me and pulled out his headphones.

"Hey you," I smiled, "Are you alright?"

He pulled me down to lay beside him, "Yeah, sorry for snapping like that," he looked around and laughed softly, "And for taking over your room."

I rested my head on his chest, "It's fine, thank you for standing up for me like that," I kissed his cheek, "And I'm glad you're comfortable enough to take refuge in my room."

Edward sighed and ran his fingers through my hair, "I guess we should go back downstairs…"

I nodded and he sat up, bringing me with him, and we both went back downstairs where everyone was almost exactly where they were when I left. Rose saw us and moved back over to Emmett and Edward smiled gratefully at her as he sat down with me in his lap.

"Bella, can I ask you something?" Alice asked, playing with the ends of Jasper's hair.

I shrugged, "Sure."

She hesitated, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to but, why did you move to Forks?"

I sucked in a deep breath and turned to look at Edward when I felt his hands running up and down my arms. He turned me so I was curled up sideways on his lap with my head resting under his chin.

"It's up to you, Bella," he whispered.

I nodded, "I will, just give me a second," I took a couple of deep breaths before turning back to look at the others, "It all started at the beginning of the summer when my mom started dating Phil…" And so I told them everything, not looking any of them in the face but rather at the window behind their heads, "And so the man who tried to get into the house yesterday was Phil," I finished and turned to bury my face in Edward's shoulder.

I felt someone sit on the arm of the chair and wrap their arms around me, pulling me away from Edward and against their chest. Looking up, I smiled slightly at Emmett as he pulled me into his lap, wrapping both arms securely around me, "I'll make sure no one touches you again."

Edward rolled his eyes and reached over to pull me back down, but Emmett stood with me on his hip, shielding me away from the others, "Didn't you just hear me Edward? No one touches Bella, without my permission."

I laughed a little as Rose sighed and got up, slapping Emmett upside the head before helping me down and pulling me into a hug, "Thank you for trusting us enough to tell us. We're all here for you anytime you need anything."

I nodded and hugged her back, "Thanks Rose that means a lot."

She guided me back to Edward, pulling Emmett with him when he started protesting and she sat on his knee so he couldn't get back up. Jasper smirked at me and rolled his eyes while Alice was trying to hold back tears. I smirked back at Jasper and opened my arms to Alice who skipped into them and curled into my lap, Edward shifting us so that the three of us were comfortable.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think we should put in a movie before we go to sleep," Jasper suggested, standing up and stretching out his legs.

"Old School…I think it's important that we watch Old School," Emmett nodded his head with a completely serious look on his face.

We all looked at him and Rose shook her head, "Why is that so important? Besides, this is our girls' night that you guys intruded on and Alice and I brought Legally Blonde."

Emmett shook his head persistently, "No, I don't think that's going to work."

Edward chuckled, "Em, did you even bring Old School with you?"

"Uh…" he froze, then pouted, "Fine, you girls win."

Alice giggled as she got up and skipped to her makeup bag and pulled out the movie. She slipped it into the player and launched herself into Jasper's arms, causing him to flop back onto the chair. We watched the movie in silence, besides the odd giggle or two, and by the end I was exhausted. I looked around and saw Alice had fallen asleep, and so had Emmett.

Rose laughed and grabbed a pillow out of the pile on the floor and tucked it under Emmett's head, settled herself down with her head resting on his chest and draped a blanket of the two of them. Jasper picked Alice up and gently laid her on the floor, her head on a pillow, and covered her with a blanket before laying down beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist. I smiled as I watched them, and I could see Edward looking at me through the corner of my eye.

"You're still awake?" he asked, surprised.

"Just barely," I shrugged, getting up to get a pillow for Edward and to turn off the light, thankful that the TV was still left on so there was light for me to use to stumble back to the recliner. I grabbed the TV remote on my way and clicked it off once I was safely sitting down.

Edward took the pillow from me and stuck it behind his head as he popped the footrest up, and tucked the blanket around us both, kissing my forehead, "Goodnight Bella."

"Night," I mumbled back, unable to keep my eyes open any longer.

**_Author's Note:_** Again, I know it's not the best, but it's fairly long and I hope you guys like it at least a little bit. Thanks for reading and I'll update as soon as possible. Love you guys x.o.x.o


	20. Chapter 20

_Starting Anew_

**_Disclaimer: _**Twilight not mine, though if I have to tell you this by now then you need to get out more.  
**_Author's Note: _**Okay, so I haven't finished writing the chapter, but this is to make up for making you guys all wait for so long, you have my absolute permission to create a mob and hunt me down. I've had real life step in and mess with my head so I appologize that this took so long. I'll have the second half of the chapter up hopefully within the week, but I can't promise anything at this time as I don't know when I'm going to get a chance to actually finish it, but I'm working on it now. So here's the chapter that's taken so long to be put up (and again I'm so sorry). Enjoy :)

**Chapter 20: Getting Ready**

I was woken up by someone shaking me by the shoulder, blearily opening my eyes I saw my dad kneeling beside the chair, already dressed in his uniform, "Morning dad, what time is it?"

"It's only six thirty, I just wanted to make sure you got up for school and to let you know I was leaving for work," he stood up, "I have to leave now, make sure you kids aren't late for school."

I nodded, "Alright."

"Tell everyone I said good morning," he leaned down and hugged me before poking Edward in the chest, who of course didn't even twitch, "Is he still alive?"

"Yeah, he's alive," I laughed, "Now go on before you're late for work."

"You're right, I'll see you when I get home tonight. Love you," with one more doubtful look towards Edward he left the room and I could hear the front door open and close.

"What was that?" Jasper poked his head up from where he was laying on the floor, curled up with Alice, and gently unwound himself from her and stood up.

"My dad leaving for work," I tried to climb off of the chair, but Edward had his arms held tightly around my waist, "Um…could you help me get up?"

He laughed, "Sure thing," he held Edward's arm up and lifted me off of the chair.

"Thanks," I grinned once my feet were firmly on the ground, "Did you want to come to the kitchen while I make breakfast? We have a while before they get up."

He agreed and we made our way to the kitchen and I pulled out the eggs from the fridge. I didn't feel like actually cooking anything so I settled for a simple batch of scrambled eggs and toast.

"Do you need any help?" he sat at the kitchen table and watched me.

"Nope, I've got it covered, though if you want you can go try and wake up the others, it's almost ready," I pulled out the butter, jam, and peanut butter and waited for the final pieces of toast to finish.

He sighed but disappeared around the corner to attempt to wake up everyone else. I wasn't surprised when Rose walked through the kitchen on her own not even a minute later.

"Morning Bella," she nodded towards me as she sat herself down at the kitchen table.

"Morning," I dished out the food, brought my plate and hers to the table and sat beside her.

Jasper huffed his way back into the room, "I give up," he grabbed a plate and joined us at the table, "They'll get up on their own eventually."

Rose and I laughed as the three of us quietly ate our breakfasts. We finished and Rose and I cleaned up the dishes while Jasper went upstairs to get changed. We covered up the other three plates before going upstairs to my room to get ready. We got dressed with our backs to each other; I put on a blue t-shirt and black flare jeans, and laughed when I saw that Rose was wearing the same thing, except with a red t-shirt. We stepped out into the hall and saw Jasper leaning against the wall across from my door waiting for us; Rose raised her eyebrow at that.

"Well I didn't see either of you downstairs so instead of being the only live one down there I figured I'd wait up here," he shrugged.

Rose rolled her eyes, "Wuss," she pushed passed him and went downstairs.

"Umm…" I looked at him confused.

He laughed and draped an arm around my shoulder, "C'mon, we should go wake up the others if they plan on making it to school on time. I don't know about you, if they're not up I'm taking Emmett's keys and leaving them here."

"Well I don't know about that," I bit my lip.

"He's just kidding Bells," Rose was leaning against the railing at the end of the stairs, "We'll make sure they're up by then."

I let out a sigh of relief as we all got to the living room and I walked to where Edward was still laying on the recliner and sat on the arm of the chair. I gently pushed his hair out of his eyes, "Edward, wake up," unsurprisingly he didn't even twitch, "If you don't wake up soon we're going to be late for school…" I sighed and leaned down and kissed him softly on his lips, giggling softly as he reached up and pulled me down onto his lap and slowly pulled his lips away from mine.

"Good morning to you too," He grinned up at me and eased himself up into a sitting position.

I looked behind me and saw Rose beating Emmett's head with a pillow and Jasper mumbling to Alice and I groaned as I heard him whisper, "If you don't get up you won't have time to put makeup on Bella."

Immediately Alice shot up, wide-eyed, and glared towards me, "You may have gotten out of getting your nails done, but you're not getting out of Bella Barbie time," and then she was off and running up the stairs to get herself dressed.

"Jasper," I whined, "I was hoping she would forget."

He laughed, "Sorry Bells, but it worked."

I groaned and buried my head against Edward's chest, jumping when I heard a loud thud from across the room. I felt Edward's chest rumble as he laughed and glanced up and saw Emmett laying on the floor and Rose sitting on the couch with a satisfied grin on her face.

Emmett sat up and rubbed the back of his head, "Fine, I'm up, I'm up."

I just shook my head, "Breakfast is in the kitchen," I hadn't even finished before Emmett was gone.

"Thanks love," Edward kissed my cheek and lifted me up to carry me with him. He sat down at the table with me in his lap, "I think I might just keep you here."

"That's fine by me," I leaned back in his arms.

"C'mon Bella, makeup time," Alice skipped into the room, same outfit as me and Rose, but with a bright yellow t-shirt.

"Where did you get makeup from anyway, I thought you only brought things for hair and nails?" I wondered aloud.

"Bella, Bella, Bella, the makeup was in our regular bags," she explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I sighed, "Fine Alice," I got up and followed her to the main floor bathroom and obediently sat on the closed toilet as she sat on the edge of the bathtub, turning me to face her, and Rose stood behind me and started working on my hair as Alice did my makeup.

"Guys, is this really necessary? We're only going to school," I tried to wheedle myself out of it at the last minute, just as Rose started pulling at my hair with her hands and a hairbrush, "I guess it is then."

I learned quickly enough that if I sat quietly and didn't complain then it went by faster, so that's exactly what I did. They finished but wouldn't let me look until they were done themselves. I sat patiently and watched them work quickly on themselves before they pulled me up and the three of us faced the mirror above the sink. Alice had a light pink eye shadow, black eyeliner, pink lip gloss, mascara, a thick yellow headband, and the ends of her hair were spiked out. Rose had applied a smoky eye shadow, black eyeliner, mascara, red lipstick, and had her hair cascading down her back in gentle waves. Lastly, I looked at my own reflection and saw a light blue eye shadow, dark blue eyeliner, black mascara, a clear lip gloss, and my hair was tied back with a blue ribbon and the ends of the ponytail were curled.

Alice grinned and wrapped her arms around mine and Rose's waists, "We look gorgeous."

"That we do," Rose laughed we picked up their bags and walked out of the bathroom and over to where the guys were ready and waiting in the living room.

"Let's go boys," Alice waltzed upstairs and grabbed my knapsack before impatiently tapping her foot by the front door.

Edward rolled his eyes before taking my bag from her and slipped his arm around my shoulders, leaning down to kiss the top of my head, "You look beautiful."

I blushed as I went to slip on my black sneakers, but they were snatched away from me by Rose and Alice handed me a pair of blue flats and black jacket, and I noticed her and Rose each had their own, their shoes matching their shirts. I shook my head as I put those on instead, and waited with Rose for Alice to finish inspecting the guys clothes; all of them were wearing black jeans but Edward was wearing a brown t-shirt, Emmett was wearing green, and Jasper was wearing orange and they all had black hoodies to put on overtop.

"I'm beginning to see a trend here," I whispered to Rose.

She laughed, "Yeah, I guess so, though Alice said she had a hunch of what we should all wear today when we were packing a bag."

"Edward said before not to bet against Alice," I nodded, honestly slightly freaked out by it.

"Ready to go?" Edward asked, slipping his hoodie over his head.

We all agreed and filed outside and I locked the door behind us. Alice pulled me over to the Jeep and she gestured for Jasper to help her up and then motioned for Edward to do the same with me, patting the seat beside her. Edward did as he was asked and he and Jasper climbed in behind us as Emmett and Rose sat in the front seat. Alice leaned against my shoulder and Rose turned around so she could see the both of us.

The two of them started talking about some fashion designer that I've never heard of before. The two of them gushed the whole way to school…leaving me more confused as each minute ticked by. Finally, though, we arrived and the guys hopped out and reached up to help us out as well. Edward had my bag and the guys went around to the back of the Jeep to grab the other bags as well as Rose and Alice pulled me over to the same picnic table as the day before, this time Alec, James and Laurent were already there.

"Good morning pretty ladies," James stood up and bowed.

"Good morning yourself, you big flirt," Rose winked and cuffed him upside the head.

Emmett laughed as he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, Edward and Jasper doing the same with me and Alice.

"I'm seeing a trend here," Laurent laughed, motioning to our matching clothes.

Alice stuck her chin up, "You're just jealous."

"Of course they are Ali," Jasper kissed her cheek and led her to sit at the table while Emmett and Edward pulled Rose and I to sit on the grass in front of the other four.

"I'm exhausted, why'd you guys wake us up so early?" Emmett complained, flopping down onto his back.

Laurent laughed, "Probably so you would actually get to school instead of sleeping through until lunch time like you did quite often last year."

I looked at him sceptically, "You slept until lunch? How'd you get away with that?"

Edward laughed and pulled me to sit between his legs, my back leaning against his chest, "Our mom figured, once we turned 18, it was up to us to get up and to school on time on our own. Emmett's probably the heaviest sleeper, so needless to say he didn't make it on time very often."

I just shook my head; leave it to Emmett, "So how exactly did you pass all of your classes?"

Emmett scratched his head in thought, "You know, I'm not all that sure actually."

We all laughed before standing up to start heading to class.

**_Author's Note:_** Okay, hopefully that was worth the wait. Any questions, comments and/or concerns feel free to let me know. Thanks so much for reading and I'll update as soon as possible.


	21. Chapter 21

_Starting Anew_

**Disclaimer: **Okay, you all know the drill I don't own anything you recognize, which is the characters and setting, but the plot is entirely my own.  
_**Author's Note: **Alright, alright...you all have my absolute permission to pull out the pitchforks and hunt me down for the month and a half (ish) wait that I put you all through. For some reason my summer has been busier than my actual school year and it's been kinda stressful but I should be back on a regular basis again now that I've gotten everything figured out...I'm actually working on updating a Harry Potter story of mine as well, as I've been getting quite a few requests to update a particular one. My cousin has recently starting reading this story and has been encouraging me to write more as quickly as possible. Anyways to make up for the long delay here's, what I think, is my longest chapter yet at 12 pages in MS Word :). Thank you for putting up with me and waiting this long for an update, hopefully I haven't lost any faithful readers in the process. I love you all and it means so much you all actually take the time to read my work. Enjoy the latest installment of **Starting Anew**.  
_

**Chapter 21: First Aid Kit Anyone?**

I followed Alice to chemistry, listening to her talking about a shopping trip she wanted to take on the weekend.

We took our seats and said a quick hello to Angela and Ben who were sitting in front of us, then turned to the front of the room where Mrs. Costella had started her lesson. As the class went on, I realized that it was easy to connect what she was teaching us to what I had learned in grade eleven biology last year. The class went by quickly and before I knew it I was packing up and saying goodbye to the other three as I walked into the Spanish room and sitting beside Rose.

"Hello Bella," Rose grinned, completely ignoring James and Alec who had walked in behind me.

I laughed lightly, "Hello to you as well."

"Oh yeah, just ignore us. It's fine, pretend we're not even here," James grumbled.

"Sorry, hi Alec," Rose smirked.

"Class is never going to be boring with you two together," Alec shook his head, looking between Rose and James.

Mr. Gonzalez handed out a worksheet, "This is for me to judge where you all stand when it comes to the language. You will not be marked, and if you like you may work with those around you. Keep the noise level to a minimum and begin," he sat at his desk and picked up a copy of today's paper.

"Awesome," James and Alec spun around in their seats and smirked at us.

Rose rolled her eyes, "Who said we were working with the likes of you?"

"Aww…but Rosie, maybe Bella wants to work with me," James pouted, looking at me with a pathetic version of the puppy dog eyes.

I laughed, "You're not getting my help with this one."

He huffed, "Fine, I'll just do it on my own," and with that he spun back around in his seat and ignored us.

We laughed and started working on the sheet, eventually James turned around again and the four of us finished quickly. The bell rang and we stood up and handed in our papers as we filed out the door. James and I stepped into the English room and took our seats and waited for the other two to join us. They came strolling in, just before the bell rang; Jasper was scowling and Emmett looked almost remorseful.

"What happened?" I asked cautiously as Jasper sat beside me.

He rolled his eyes, "I don't even know. One minute I'm talking to Laurent, the next I'm sitting in the principle's office. I can't quite figure out what happened in between but I _know_ Emmett did something."

I raised my eyebrow towards Emmett, who wasn't looking anyone in the eye, but didn't get a chance to ask him as Mrs. Mayers had started her review of how to properly write an essay to her standards.

I quickly pulled out my notebook and started to record the important points of what she was saying, even though it felt like I already knew everything she was telling us.

The class seemed to drag on and on and it looked like Emmett was about to explode from not talking by the time the bell finally rang. I didn't think I would ever see Emmett looking so excited to be heading to math class. We said goodbye to James and I gave Jasper a quick hug before picking up my notebook and following after Emmett who had already grabbed my bag and was heading through the halls to the math room.

"So Em, what happened during second period?" I asked, once I finally caught up.

He actually blushed, "I broke a desk."

I just stared at him before shaking my head, "You know what? I don't even want to know how that happened."

He grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, you probably don't."

We took our seats and he passed me my bag and I quickly switched my notebook and pen for a grid notebook and a pencil.

At the end of the class it had to be said that it was the most frustrating and confusing class on my schedule, and looking at Emmett I could see that he was feeling the same way. We packed our newly acquired math text books into our bags before Emmett hoisted them both over one arm and wrapped the other around my shoulder.

"You'll protect me from Rosie right? You know, when she finds out what happened in second period?" he whispered, glancing around him fearfully.

I laughed, "I can't see that happening, sorry."

"I figured," he sighed, slumping his shoulders as we walked into the cafeteria where Jasper and Edward were already seated.

Edward pulled me to sit on his lap once I was within arms reach and took my bag from Emmett, leaving it sitting at his feet, "How're you?"

I looked at him oddly, "I'm fine, is there a reason why I shouldn't be?"

Immediately he started shaking his head, "No, no, no, just wanted to make sure Emmett didn't get you in trouble as well," he shot his brother a look and held me as far away from Emmett as possible as he sat down beside us.

Emmett groaned, "Aw…come on man, it was an accident. Besides I wouldn't get Bella in trouble."

"But it's okay to get me in trouble instead?" Jasper shot back, glaring at Emmett from across the table.

"Well sure," Emmett shrugged.

Jasper groaned and started to repeatedly bang his head on the table.

Alice skipped in at that moment and looked confusedly at Jasper before turning to glare at Emmett. Rose was walking slowly behind her and pointedly ignored Emmett as she sat down between Edward and Jasper. Alice got Jasper to stop banging his head and sat in his lap, running her fingers over his bright red forehead.

"I said I was sorry," Emmett threw his hands in the air, "What more do you want from me?"

Rose sighed before standing up and moving to sit beside Emmett, "To control your anger. You Cullen guys let your anger control you sometimes and it shouldn't," I looked between everyone, confused, but shrugged it off when it didn't look like anyone was going to explain, "Now, I don't know about all of you but I'm hungry."

Emmett kissed her cheek before standing up and placing her in his chair, "Food it is."

Edward and Jasper also got up, leaving the three of us sitting at the table.

Rose shook her head, "He wasn't any trouble last period was he, Bella?"

"Nope, the class itself is going to cause problems, but Emmett was fine," I looked between the two, but again it didn't look like they were going to elaborate on what was going on.

"That's good," Rose shook her head as she kept an eye on Emmett as the boys waited in line and got the food and made their way back to the table.

I stood up and Edward smiled at me as he set the tray down on the table. He sat down in the chair and pulled me down into his lap, "So how was your morning?"

"Pretty good, uneventful anyway," I smiled and kissed his cheek, "And yours?"

He chuckled, "Alright," he leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Better than Jasper's anyway."

I laughed and took the apple he held out to me, "Thanks."

"It's no problem at all. Bella," he wrapped his arm tighter around my waist and reached over to open a can of coke and a cream soda, which he handed to me, "Did you want to come over after school? Your dad's not going to be home right away right? I don't want you staying by yourself."

"I'd be perfectly fine on my own," I huffed, grinning when he looked like he was about to protest, "But I'd like to come over, just not so you can keep your eye on me."

He kissed my temple, "I guess we can do it your way."

I smirked as I took a fry from the plate on the tray.

"Bella, you're coming over tonight?" Alice perked up and put her water bottle down on the table.

"Yes," I leaned back into Edward's chest.

"Yay! Then we can make up for not doing our nails yesterday," she bounced excitedly in Jasper's lap.

"No, Alice," Edward glared at his sister.

I looked at him curiously, but before either I could ask or Alice could protest the bell rang signalling the end of lunch. Edward helped me up and picked up the tray, saying goodbye to the others as he guided me out of the café. We walked quietly to biology where James and Laurent were already seated.

"What has you two here so early?" Edward asked as we sat down and he handed me my bag.

"We can't be late, coach will have our heads handed him on a silver platter by Emmett," James shuddered.

I laughed and pulled out my notebook. Mr. Banner walked in and immediately began his lesson after taking attendance. I was taking notes when I saw a folded piece of paper being pushed across the table towards me. Looking up I saw Edward smiling to himself as I quietly unfolded the note.

_**Will you go out with me after school?**_

I glanced at him curiously before writing my own reply and handed it back.

_I thought I already was?_

_**No, you're supposed to be coming over tonight. I want to know if you would like to go out, just the two of us?**_

I smiled as I wrote the final note.

_I'd like that._

He grinned and slipped the piece of paper into his text book as the bell rang and students were rushing out of the room.

"You made me miss the lesson," I glared at Edward as he picked up our bags and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, "You know I can carry that myself?"

Edward narrowed his eyes at me, "You will do no such thing, you've got all of your text books in here and I'll carry it until we get lockers assigned to us otherwise you'll hurt your back."

I rolled my eyes, "But then you're carrying twice the weight, so does that mean you'll hurt your back even more?"

"Silly Bella, he's not carrying them on his back," Laurent laughed, walking on my other side.

We got to the class and Laurent waved at Alec and Jasper, where they were sitting at the same table as yesterday, before he went to sit with a group of other guys. Edward pulled me to sit beside Jasper and he sat on my other side, in between Alec and I.

Ms. Robinson started the class before we could say anything to one another. We quickly got to work sketching the diagrams of eyes that she was passing out. Her reasoning was that we had to learn to draw each individual part of the body before we can start on actual portraits. She said we would be working on a part each Monday, today we would be to get us into the routine, and she would be teaching other techniques on the other four school days.

Jasper and I both finished quickly and I saw both Edward and Alec struggling their way through it sluggishly.

I leaned over to him, "Edward, do you need help?"

"Maybe just a little?" He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly at me.

We spent the rest of the lesson with me leaning over his shoulder and giving him hints and suggestions on how to finish his sketch. When the bell rang Edward stood up, looking relieved, and quickly pulled me over to where Ms. Robinson was standing at the door and handed in both of our work and stood just outside the door and waited for Jasper and Alec.

Jasper came out first, laughing at Alec as he came trudging out behind him.

"Ready to go?" Jasper asked, starting to walk towards the gym, "Bella, I was wondering if I could show you something after school and get your opinion on it?"

I nodded, "Sure thing." I could see Edward frowning beside me, "What's wrong?"

He just sighed and shook his head, "Nothing, Bells."

I hugged him around the waist, "Are you sure?"

Edward looked at me and gently guided me so I wasn't bumping into anything, "It's nothing, I'll tell you later."

"Alright, if you're sure?" I looked at him doubtfully, but by this time we had reached the doors of the gym where Rose and Emmett were both waiting.

"It's about time!" Rose exclaimed, pulling me behind her and into the locker rooms.

"Rose? What's the hurry?" I asked, letting myself be pulled along.

She glanced over at me as we started to change into the t-shirt and track pants Rose had decided we should wear for today's class, "Um…no reason Bella, just heard something that rattled my nerves I guess."

I raised my eyebrow, waiting for her to elaborate, but she didn't. Instead she seemed to look nervous about something and instead just shook her head and walked out of the room, leaving me to follow after her.

We met up with the guys on the bleachers and I noticed that they all looked anxious about something. I followed Rose over to them and she sat in between Emmett and Jasper, while I sat on his other side with Edward beside me. Edward pulled me to his side protectively, his jaw was clenched, and he was glaring at an empty corner of the gym.

I rested my head on his shoulder, "Is something wrong?"

He glanced at me and sighed, his face softening as he kissed my temple, "Same thing as earlier, we'll talk about it later."

"Okay, but did I do something to upset you? I'm sorry for being so clingy," I whispered, sitting up and moving slightly closer to Jasper.

"No, no, no, "Edward pulled me back towards him, "You didn't do anything and you're not clingy at all," he kissed me softly, "Now, I don't want you to worry about it. I'll tell you everything once we get to my place after school," he grinned, "My mom can't wait to see you again, she called to remind me at the beginning of lunch."

I smiled, "I liked her, she's easy to talk to."

He grinned, "I'm glad."

Jasper leaned over, "Don't look now, but Tanya alert."

Rose cursed under her breath before smirking, "God I hope we're playing dodge ball today."

Emmett laughed, "Somehow I doubt that."

Jasper shrugged, "I bet you could talk coach into it."

"Talk the coach into what?" Alec asked, sitting down on the bench behind us.

We all turned around and Rose laughed, "Talk him into letting us play dodge ball today."

Alec looked confused so Edward tried to explain, "It's a long story but basically it ends with Rose beating your sister with a ball."

"I wouldn't mind watching that," Alec laughed as James, Laurent and three other guys came and sat behind us as well.

"Hello ladies," James nodded at Rose and I, "So Rose, babe, are you going to join me and leave the big oaf?"

"Not even in your dreams," Rose glared at him and turned away from him.

Edward laughed, "Give it up James."

He sighed, "I suppose I have no choice," then he grinned and winked at me, "So Bella, how's about you and I go out Friday night?"

Edward glared at him, "Not a chance, man."

James turned to Laurent, who was trying to conceal his chuckles, "Why does nobody love me?"

All of the guys laughed at him and he only sighed again before he and Laurent moved to sit behind Emmett.

"So, you're Bella," one of the mystery guys leaned forward in his seat, "Heard so much about you, but yet Edward's never introduced us," he glared at Edward.

Edward rolled his eyes, "Alright, alright, Bells this is Aro, Marcus, and Caius; they're on the baseball team. Guys this is my girlfriend Bella."

I blushed, "Hi."

Aro nodded, "That's better Edward, and it's wonderful to finally meet you Bella."

Mr. Webber stood in the middle of the gym and blew his whistle, "Alright everyone, partner up. Our first focus for the year is basketball. We're going to be running through some drills so I want everyone to pick a spot with their partner in an empty part of the gym."

We all got up and Rose pulled me over with her near an empty corner where we were joined by Emmett and Jasper, and Edward and Alec. We stood across from our partners and started doing chest passes back and forth.

That's how the first half of the class went, we did different drills while the coach went from group to group and corrected what we were doing wrong, and surprisingly I had managed not to hurt anyone in the process. Mr. Webber blew his whistle again and we all brought the balls to the equipment room before fallowing him out the back door of the gym and onto the soccer field.

"Alright, today we didn't do our running at the beginning of the class like I had planned, so we're going to do it now. I want everyone to give me ten laps around the fields, and no that doesn't mean just around one set of goal posts, I want you to go around all four sets, now get to it," he sat back and smirked as Tanya and her friends started complaining right away.

I looked over and groaned, sure enough there were four football fields, in sets of two there were two side by side and they were just above the other two.

Rose laughed, "C'mon Bella, it's not as bad as it looks," I gave her a doubtful look and she laughed, "Okay, so it is, but the sooner we start the faster it'll be over."

We started jogging together and made small talk to make the time go by. And, of course, I just had to be myself, so when I turned to say something to Rose I tripped over a rock and sent myself tumbling to the ground. I felt something wet on my forehead and grimaced when the pain from trying to move my head and the smell of something rusty, knowing I must have hit my head on another rock.

I felt someone kneel beside me and help me sit up, pressing a cloth of some sort against my forehead. I opened my eyes and saw Edward in front of me with Mr. Webber crouched down beside us, behind him I could see Emmett ushering everyone else back into the gym.

"Miss Swan, are you alright?" Mr. Webber asked, pushing Edward's hand out of the way and tilting my head slightly to get a better look.

"I think so," I closed my eyes, the smell of the blood making me feel nauseous, "But I feel like I'm going to be sick."

He let go of me and Edward pushed the cloth against it again, "What class do you have next?"

"Music," Edward answered, and moved to sit next to me and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders.

"Alright, I'll talk to Mrs. Manning for you, Edward I want you to take her to the nurse," He stood up and Edward helped me do the same, "Now Bella, I want to know now, are you going to make a habit out of this?"

I laughed slightly, "Sorry, but yeah, probably."

He shook his head, "Alright, I'll know to carry a first aid kit around you next time. After seeing the nurse I don't think going to music is going to help the headache you're bound to get so maybe go sit outside or something since I know you all came in just one car like you always do. Edward, there's a baseball meeting today after school; it should only take five minutes so stick around until then."

We nodded and Edward led me around to the front of the building and in the front doors, "It's quicker than going through the entire building," he explained when I gave him a confused look, "How're you feeling, still feel like you're going to be sick?"

I nodded and he stopped and knocked on a door.

"Edward, what brings you here and who's this?" An elderly woman glanced between the two of us.

Edward pulled me closer to him, "This is Bella Swan, she hit her head on a rock during gym class."

"Well it's a shame we're meeting this way, I'm Heather, the school nurse. If you ever need anything don't be afraid to ask," she smiled at me before stepping aside and gestured towards the bed, "Just have a seat up there Hun and we'll get you fixed up."

Edward gently lifted me up so I could sit on the bed and stood in front of me, letting me lean forward and rest my head on his shoulder. He ran his fingers through my hair, while his other hand rubbed circles on my back, "Do you still feel like you're going to be sick?"

I nodded, "It's the smell."

Heather came back and pushed Edward aside, handing him a bucket, "It's in case she's going to be sick," she turned to me, "Okay now Hun, let's take a look at your face, then you can lay down for a while."

I nodded and she tilted my head from side to side, but I kept my eyes on Edward to distract myself from what she was doing. He was telling me stories from when he and Emmett were younger and would go camping with their dad.

Finally Heather stepped back, "Alright darling, it's been cleaned and patched up, it doesn't look deep enough to require stitches, but if it still bothers you go to the hospital and let them have a look at it. Now, I'm going to ask you to just lay here for a bit, so I can make sure you're okay before I let you leave," she turned back once she got to the door, "That and I need to call your father, school policy I'm afraid. Edward, stay with her while I go into the other room?" she smiled at us, and then she was gone.

Edward swung my legs up onto the bed and pushed my shoulders so I was lying down, "How're you feeling?" he hopped up to sit beside my hips.

"I feel fine now that I can't smell the blood. I'm a klutz; I'm used to things like this happening," I tried to smile reassuringly.

He just shook his head, "Still Bella, I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life. I am so sorry that I wasn't there to prevent it."

I took his hand in mine, "It was nothing that you could prevent, and if you plan on sticking around then you should get used to it. These kinds of things happen quite frequently, I was actually on first name basis with the nurses in the ER back in Phoenix."

Edward leaned up and kissed my forehead, "I'll try to make sure it's not as often here."

We were startled by the door swinging open, and glanced up to see Heather walking back into the room, "Alright Bella, I've notified your father and he said he'll be home as soon as possible, but for you to go to the Cullens' until then. Now, if you like you can stay here or you're both free to go, I've already talked to the main office, I only ask that you take it easy for tonight."

I nodded, "I will, thank you."

Edward pushed himself up, "I guess that means you want to go outside?"

"Yeah," I laughed and sat up, resting my forehead on Edward's shoulder when the room began to spin.

"Slowly Bella," he kissed my forehead again and stood up before slowly and carefully helping me do the same.

I thanked Heather and let Edward guide me out to the picnic tables where we sat in the morning. We eased down on the grass in the shade of a tree and I let my head fall against his shoulder.

Edward kept one arm around my waist as the other played with one of my hands, "You know, since you have to take it easy for tonight, maybe we should put off going out until you're better?"

I swung my head around to stare at him, regretting it as the world began to tilt but I held my own as I waited for everything to straighten out, "No, I want to go with you tonight," I could see he was looking doubtful so I gave him my best puppy dog eyes, "Please?"

He looked about to cave, "Only if you let Carlisle look at it and give the okay for you to go out."

I nodded and settled back against his shoulder, "Alright, that's fair."

The two of us sat in a comfortable silence until the bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Edward got up and helped me do the same when we saw Emmett, Rose and Alice come out of the school and head towards us, Alice was trying to run ahead but Rose held her back by the handle on her backpack.

Emmett got to us first and handed both of us our bags, "All of your things should be in there; Rose said she put your clothes in as well Bells."

Edward and I both nodded and thanked each of them just as Rose lost her grip on Alice and she catapulted herself towards me. Edward was behind me so he caught me as I started to tilt backwards.

"Alice, get off of her," he unwrapped his sister from me and looked around, "Where's Jasper?"

"He's already at that baseball meeting Coach announced at the end of gym after you guys left, he said he had already told you about it and Jazz said he'd meet you there," Emmett explained, watching as Rose inspected the cut on my forehead.

"Alright, I'll go there now then," he dropped his bag on the ground and looked at me, "Are you alright here or do you want to come with me?"

I bit my lip, "Actually I'm kinda cold."

He looked upset with himself, "I didn't even think…I mean I completely forgot you were just in a t-shirt. Come on with me and we'll get changed after the meeting," he nodded towards the others and led me towards the school and we walked back to the gym, "Why didn't you say you were cold?"

I blushed, "Well I didn't really think about it, I guess you were keeping me warm? I didn't even notice how chilly it was until we stood up."

He kissed my cheek, "Well I'm still sorry."

I just shook my head and smiled at him as he pushed open the gym doors and walked to the bleachers where Jasper, Alec, Aro, Marcus and Caius were already sitting. Edward helped me up so I was sitting next to Jasper and he came and sat on my other side.

"How're you feeling Bella?" Jasper asked, tilting my head up to look at him.

"I'm fine, just kind of dizzy when I move too fast," I grinned and hugged him.

Jasper laughed and pulled me onto his lap, Edward just rolled his eyes before leaning around us to talk to Alec.

Shortly after Mr. Webber stepped in front of the bleachers, "Ah, Bella, how's your head."

I blushed and ducked down against Jasper's shoulder, "Its fine sir."

"That's good," he smiled at me before his face was schooled into a fierce look towards the guys, I actually jumped and shrunk back against Jasper's chest and I could feel him chuckle as Edward reluctantly moved away from us to sit on the bench in front of the two of us, "Alright guys, heads up, as I'm sure you've noticed that there are only five of you and Jasper this year, the rest of the senior team graduated last year which means we have lots of work to do to rebuild the team before the season starts. For right now I want you to think of two things, recruiting grades eleven and twelve students for the team, and who to elect to be the new team captain for this season. We'll get back together on Friday and I want to know what you've all come up with," he looked them each in the eye and I actually got the chills and bit my lip as Jasper laughed slightly, "You should all know that this season I will not be going easy on any of you and training starts next Monday. That's all for today so you're all free to go and remember what I need you to think about what I need from you all on Friday. See you all in class tomorrow."

Edward got up and stood beside the benches and reached up to lift me down as well. Jasper handed him our bags as well has his before he jumped down beside us. Edward led the way to the nearest bathrooms, as both of the locker rooms were locked. I took my bag and went into one of the stalls in the girls' bathroom, quickly changing out of the gym uniform and back into my regular clothes.

Once I was ready I went back into the hallway where Edward was already changed and waiting with Jasper. The two of them were leaning against some lockers but once he saw me, Edward immediately rushed over to grab my bag from me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Alright then gentlemen, to the Jeep!" I laughed, linking an arm through one of Jasper's as the other was hooked around Edward's waist.

"Calm down Bella," Edward chuckled, "Take it easy and we'll get Carlisle to take a look at your head when we get home."

"Can I still ask for a bit of your time, Bella?" Jasper asked, "Won't take long, we'll be done before Carlisle gets home."

I nodded just as we were walking out of the front doors and headed towards the Jeep. Alice looked up as we got closer and bounded into Jasper's arms, knocking him to the ground and nearly pulling me down with them, thankfully Edward had a tight grip and stopped me from even getting near the ground.

Rose rolled her eyes and gestured me forward as Emmett helped her step into the middle seat of the Jeep. Emmett reached for me next and I stepped away from Edward and let Emmett lift me up so I could sit beside Rose as the two of them climbed into the front seats. Jasper carried Alice over to the Jeep and placed her in before climbing in behind her and shutting the door.

I jumped when I felt Rose pull me to rest against her side with my head on her shoulder. I looked up at her confused, but she just smiled and looked out her window. I raised my eyebrow at Emmett, who I saw watching us from the rear-view mirror and he simply smirked and shrugged at me before directing all of his attention back to his driving.

I lost track of time, but it couldn't have been more than five minutes before Emmett was pulling into their vast driveway. Emmett and Edward both hopped down and opened the back doors, reaching up to help Rose and I out as well before we stepped aside to let Jasper get down and Alice clung onto his back.

Edward had both of our bags and we all filed into the house, and he pulled me upstairs to his room where he dropped them off on the foot of his bed, "C'mon, I think my mom's downstairs."

I nodded and followed him back downstairs and through to the kitchen, where Esme was stirring something in a large pot.

She looked up, "Ah, there you two are. I was starting to wonder where you disappeared to when the others already filed through here looking for something to eat…well Emmett was looking for something to eat anyway."

Edward laughed, "Yeah that sounds about right."

I rolled my eyes and went around him to hug Esme.

_**Author's Note: **Okay, hopefully the chapter made up for the long wait. Please let me know what you think, or if you have any questions that you need cleared up and I'll get back to you ASAP. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up by next Wednesday, but this weekend is my friend's birthday and we're having a party at my house for her soooo I might not be able to write or update until next weekend. Love you all sooo much for sticking through (especially the month and a half wait) for this long. See you all soon. _


	22. Chapter 22

_Starting Anew_

**_Author's Note: _**Alright guys, I know I promised some of you to get a chapter up a couple of weeks ago, buuuut packing and getting ready to go on vacation took more time than I thought it would. I tried to write when I was away, but my friend who I went with made sure that I was busy every minute of every day. Then when I got home I had to work at my job and the summer camp I volunteer at so I haven't had much time to write lately. I'm so sorry about that, and the fact that this chapter is so short but I've started on the next chapter so hopefully that'll make up for it. So here it is, and hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday I'll have the next chapter posted. Anyways, enjoy this short update, which I'll remedy with a longer chapter soon.  
**_Disclaimer:_** Alright you guys, obviously I'm not Stephenie Meyer, why even kid ourselves anymore?

**Chapter 22: Bouquet of Daisies**

As the three of us were settling down at the kitchen table Jasper walked through and leaned down so he was at my eye level, "Could I take you with me to my place so I can get your opinion on something?"

I nodded and Esme smiled and waved us off but Edward grabbed my arm as I went to go past him, I looked down, "What's wrong?"

He smirked at Jasper as he pulled me down into his lap and leaned in to kiss my forehead, "Nothing's wrong, love."

Esme walked behind him on her way out of the kitchen and smacked him upside the head, "Stop being such a caveman Edward," she smiled at me over Edward's head, "You'll have to help me keep him in line now, Bella. Anyway, I'll be upstairs in the office if any of you needs anything."

I nodded as she bent over to hug me and shoved Edward before hugging Jasper on her way out of the room. I saw a grin flash across Jasper's face as he reached over and picked me up out of Edward's arms and carried me out to the front door.

"Edward," Jasper paused and glanced back towards the kitchen, putting be down as Edward drew closer, "We'll be back, don't worry, she won't exert herself and it'll only take a couple of minutes."

"Fine, fine, fine," Edward laughed and leaned against the wall beside the door, "But only because you only live down the street."

I rolled my eyes at him while he just continued to laugh and opened the door and gestured for us to leave, kissing me on the cheek as I passed.

Jasper wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we walked down the street. I was careful to watch my footing as I followed Jasper a couple of houses down from the Cullens' when he pulled me up a path towards one of the houses. He unlocked the front door and, assuming the layout was the same as the Cullens', he led me towards the kitchen.

My assumption was right, and as we entered I saw Amelia slicing fruit at the counter, she looked up when she heard us come in, "Good afternoon you two, where's the rest of the gang?"

"Back at the Cullens'," Jasper smiled at his mom and snagged a piece of watermelon, "I just wanted to show Bella something."

"Alright," she rolled her eyes and smacked Jasper's hand away as he reached for another piece, "No more of that, and Bella, make yourself at home dear."

"Thank you Mrs. Hale," I waved as Jasper guided me up the stairs.

He finally came to a stop at a closed door where Edward had shown me the room of trophies in his house. Clearing his throat nervously he opened the door, "This is where I do all of my artwork. I actually wanted to get your opinion on something before I give it to Alice."

I couldn't help but gasp as I gazed around at all of the artwork spread around the room, "Wow, Jasper, this is all incredibly well done."

He blushed slightly, "Uh, thanks, but I wanted you to take a look at a specific piece. I feel as though it's missing something but I think I've spent too much time in front of it so I can't figure out what it is," he led me towards an easel that had a sheet spread over the canvas that was placed on it.

I was left speechless when he lifted the sheet. Painted on the canvas was a very life-like portrait of Alice. She was sitting on a porch swing with the sun setting behind her and a bouquet of daisies in her hands, one tucked behind her ear. It was absolutely stunning.

I turned to look at Jasper, who was staring at me anxiously, "It's gorgeous, looks exactly like her."

He raised a sceptic eyebrow, "Are you sure it's not missing anything?"

I stepped closer to the portrait and traced my finger around her face gently, "I don't think so, but it almost looks asa though she should have a twinkle in her eyes."

Jasper laughed and hugged me from behind, "That's exactly it!" he linked his arm around mine as he led the way out of the house, "Now, let's get back before Edward has a panic attack."

_**Author's Note:** _Alright you guys, hopefully a short update was better than no update at all. Love you all, thanks for sticking around with me for this long. If there's any questions/comments/concerns feel free to message or leave a comment and I promise to get back to you. Those of you who recently reviewed or messaged me I still have to go through my emails from the past two weeks but I WILL get back to you.


	23. Chapter 23

_,Starting Anew_

_**Author's Note:**_ _Soooooo sorry it took so long for this update, and as I've explained to Kitasky123, who this chapter is dedicated to because of the help I was awesomely offered almost a month ago after I had explained that I lost my inspiration...but I just couldn't get in the right mood to continue. BUT I saw New Moon last week and it spurred on a whole new light and I had so many ideas spinning around in my head all I had to do was finish this chapter and decide which idea to use first, and I have a good one in mind for the next chapter. So enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think of it...and what you guys thought of New Moon because personally I thought it was muuuuch better than the first one, seemed more true to the book, script was fantastic and the graphics were much better.  
**Disclaimer: **Okay so by now I'm hoping you guys all realize that I don't own the Twilight Saga and all I do own are the ideas that are back to spinning around in my head and the laptop I use to write them all down.__  
_

**Chapter 23: The Date **

Jasper opened the Cullens' front door and gestured for me to go ahead of him, "Thanks again Bella."

I leaned over and hugged him quickly, "You're more than welcome, but you know this means that now we're going to have to paint together sometime."

"Soon," he agreed, walking through to the living room, while I went up the stairs towards Edward's room, as I didn't hear his voice float through to the hallway.

I reached the bedroom and gently knocked on the door, slowly creaking it open when I heard his voice call out. I smiled when I saw Edward laying on the black leather couch that was against the wall opposite of the bed, "Hey, I'm back."

Edward grinned lazily and reached an arm out towards me, pulling my hand so that I was sitting on the edge of the couch near his chest, "Good, we'll leave soon, after Carlisle gets home so he can look you over to be sure it's alright. Dinner and a movie sound good?"

"Sounds perfect," I smiled and leaned down, so I was half laying across Edward's chest, and rested my head on his shoulder.

He draped an arm over my stomach as his other hand threaded through my hair, "How does your head feel now?"

I traced circles on Edward's chest with my index finger, "Much better, just a dull throb right now…easy to ignore."

Edward hummed in agreement, "I still want Carlisle look at it before we leave."

I nodded, "If that makes you feel better."

He chuckled, "It does."

We laid like that for probably half an hour before we heard the front door open and Carlisle's voice floating up the stairs. Edward gently shifted me into an upright position before sitting up himself. Getting up, he led the way out to the hallway intertwining his hand with my own as we walked down the stairs. We entered the kitchen to see Carlisle and Esme sitting at the table.

"Hey dad," Edward greeted, pulling me ahead of him, "I was wondering if you could take a look at the cut on Bella's head?"

"Of course," he got up and gestured for me to sit in his chair, "How'd this happen Bella?"

I looked down and blushed, "I tripped during gym and fell onto a rock."

Edward snorted, "Probably the _only_ rock on that whole damn field too."

Carlisle laughed and tilted my head from one side to the other, "Well it's pretty deep, but not deep enough to need stitches and it won't leave a scar as it heals. Does your head ache or are you finding yourself light headed?"

I shook my head, "A little bit earlier, but right now I barely even notice it."

"Alright," he nodded and stood back so I could get up, "If it does start to bother you I'd say take an ibuprofen for the pain…unless it's completely unbearable, then I want you to let me know and we'll see if there's something we can do about it."

I nodded, "Okay, thank you."

"You're more than welcome Bella," he grinned and looked over my shoulder at Edward, "Your mother tells me you're going out tonight."

"Yeah, I'm taking Bella to dinner and a movie tonight," he wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his head on my shoulder, "I'll drive her home after that."

Carlisle nodded, "Alright, just don't be home too late and make sure you let Charlie know where you're going as well so he doesn't worry."

We both nodded and I hugged them both goodbye as Edward guided me out the front door. I laughed as he opened the passenger side door for me and bowed, sweeping his arm out with a cheeky grin. Kissing his cheek I slid onto the seat and waited for him to go around the car and into his own seat. Starting up the car he reached out to gently grasp my hand that was resting on my thigh, bringing it up to his lips to kiss the back of it before placing our joined hands back on my lap.

"Would it be possible to stop by my dad's place?" I asked hesitantly, "I would like to change and let my dad know where we're going."

Edward nodded, "Anything you want."

I smiled as we rode the rest of the way in silence. As we pulled up beside the house I could see my dad's cruiser parked in the driveway and I groaned as we got out of the car.

Edward looked at me anxiously, "Is something wrong Bells?"

"My dad is going to freak when he finds out that I've already gotten a head injury on the second day of school," I frowned, looking at the house with dread.

"Come on Bella," he grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the front door, "Look on the bright side, he probably already knows anyway. Not only is it school policy to call the parents after an injury…" Edward trailed off and smirked at me, "It's also a small town and news travels fast."

I just groaned again and buried my face against his arm as he continued to laugh while opening the door for us. I sighed, but resigned myself to following him through to the living room where I could clearly see my dad sitting in the recliner.

I bit my lip, "Hey, dad."

He whipped his head around and got up to stand in front of us, tilting my head from one side to the next as he carefully examined the cut, "Are you alright? I nearly had a heart attack, Bella, when y our school called and said you were in the nurse's office."

I pushed away his hands, "I'm fine dad, my klutziness kicked in is all it was."

Edward laughed, "That's one way of putting it."

I rolled my eyes and pulled away from the two of them, "Anyways, Edward asked me to go out with him tonight, would you be okay for dinner?"

He nodded, "I'll be fine Bells, you two go and enjoy yourselves…although, I would like to know where exactly you're taking her," he raised his eyebrow at Edward who quickly agreed.

"Alrighty then…I'll just go get changed," I backed up and went upstairs.

Going into my room I looked through my closet of clothes that were mostly picked out by Alice, and grabbed a purple knit sweater, keeping on the same black jeans I was already wearing. I untied the ribbon that was holding my hair up and thankfully it didn't leave that funny bump that I always get when I tie up my hair, so I was able to leave it down; the ends remaining curled. I looked at my makeup in the mirror and rolled my eyes when I realized there was nothing I could do to change that from blue to purple. Grabbing the black jacket that I wore today, I draped it over my arm and grabbed my black purse that had my wallet already in it and slipped my cell phone in as well before heading back downstairs.

I slipped into the living room to see both of them sitting down and watching a replay of a baseball game from the previous week, "How can you watch a game that you already saw and know how it ends?"

Edward stood up and stretched, "Well you never know, we could've missed something the first time around," he grinned and kissed me chastely, "You look gorgeous, ready to get going?"

I agreed and bent down to kiss my dad's cheek, "I'll be back later tonight."

"Alright kiddo, have fun," he reached out to shake Edward's hand, "Don't have her out too late, it _is_ a school night after all."

"Of course not, Charlie," Edward nodded before guiding me back out of the house.

He let me in before walking around to the driver's side and started driving towards where I assumed was Port Angeles. I knew I was right when he pulled in front of the restaurant that he had pointed out to me on the day when we first met, _Bella Italia_.

He looked at me hesitantly, "You said you like Italian right?"

I nodded and leaned over to kiss his cheek, "Yes, I'm surprised you remember something like that."

Edward just smirked and got out, going around the car to help me out as well. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, as my own arm found its' way around his waist, and guided me towards the doors of the restaurant. There was a young blonde girl, probably in her early twenties, greeting people as they entered, and I watched as she looked Edward up and down as she smiled at him.

"Welcome to Bella Italia," she twirled a piece of hair around her finger and licked her lips, "How many?"

"Uh…just two…" he inched closer to me as I tried not to laugh at her obvious attempts of flirting with him.

She glared at me and picked up two menus, leading the way towards a back corner of the restaurant, "Your server will be with you shortly," she smirked towards me before turning back to Edward, "But if there's anything at all that you need, you just let me know."

Edward shuddered a she walked away, swaying her hips as she went. Normally I'd feel extremely self conscious after someone like that comes up, but seeing Edward's reaction helped a lot, it let me know that he wasn't looking for someone like that. He let me slide into the booth before sitting beside me.

I let a giggle slip through, despite my best efforts to hold it in, biting my lip when he turned to look at me, "Sorry, I tried to stop it. But after all of that, she didn't even tell you her name; maybe you should go and ask her for it."

His stare turned into a glare, "Not a chance," he kissed my cheek, "Besides, I've got you, and I don't plan on ever letting you go now."

I smiled up at him, "Good, because I don't plan on going anywhere without you so you can't get rid of me that easily."

As our server came to the table I quickly recognized him as Ben, and he grinned as he realized who it was, "Hey, did you guys want to start with something to drink?"

We nodded and Edward ordered a coke while I asked for a sprite. Ben agreed and told us he'd be back to take our orders before he walked away.

Edward handed me my menu as he opened his own. We sat in silence as we each went through the options, before seeming to come to a decision at the same time and closing the menus.

He chuckled and turned to me, "So what did Jasper want earlier?"

I grinned, "He wanted to show me the most gorgeous piece of art that I had ever seen."

"Of…?" Edward raised his eyebrow sceptically.

I shrugged, "I'm not sure if I should tell you…he said it was a surprise for Alice."

"Oh yeah, their first year anniversary is coming up soon," he nodded, a distant look in his eyes.

I hummed in agreement as Ben walked back to the table with our drinks, "Alright, are you guys ready to order?"

Edward nodded and gestured for me to go first, "Um…I'll have the mushroom ravioli, please."

"And I'll have the veal parmesan, thanks," he grinned and handed the menus to Ben's outstretched hand.

"Okay, your food should be ready shortly," Ben walked away quickly.

Edward turned back to me, "Alright, so when exactly is your birthday? I know it should be coming up soon, right?"

I tried to think back to when I would have mentioned when exactly my birthday was, but I was drawing a blank, "What are you talking about?"

He smirked, "You know exactly what I'm talking about," he kissed my forehead, "Now, when is your birthday?"

Stubbornly, I crossed my arms, "I really don't know what you're talking about."

"Bella, Bella, Bella," he just laughed, "Your father already let it slip that it was this month, now all I want to know is when."

I cursed under my breath, "I should have known he would have said something, the traitor," I could hear him laughing, "Maybe I'll just wait for it to pass before I tell you."

All he did was laugh harder, "All I have to do is ask him when it is, but I'd rather hear it from you before I have to resort to that."

I pouted and looked up at him through my eyelashes, "Fine, but then you have to promise not to make a big deal out of it, I don't like people making a big deal out of my birthday."

"Fine," he sighed, wrapping his arms firmly around my waist and resting his head on my shoulder, "I promise."

I sighed, "Alright, my birthday's on September thirteenth."

He pulled back and looked me in the eye, "Bella, that's on Sunday….were you seriously not going to tell me?"

I hesitated slightly, "No, I probably wasn't going to, to be completely honest."

Edward just sighed and leaned his forehead against mine, "Fine, but only because now I know and the situation never came up."

"But, remember you promised not to make a big deal out of it," I leaned back as I saw Ben coming back towards the table.

"Here you go, just give a shout if there's anything else that you need," Ben grinned, placing the food in front of us before walking away towards another nearby table.

Edward sighed, "I know, I won't make a big deal out of it…what were you planning on doing for it anyway?"

"I'm not sure," I shrugged, "Nothing really, probably just hang out around the house or maybe go down to La Push to visit the gang," I paused to take a bite, "Come with me?"

"Bella," he laughed, "You don't even have to ask."

I blushed but let him take my hand in his as we finished the rest of our meals in a comfortable silence.

After eating we didn't sit around for long, Edward quickly dropped some bills on the table and slid out of the booth, taking my hand to help me do the same. Placing his hand on my lower back, he guided me out of the restaurant, both of us waving at Ben as we passed him.

"So, what movie would you like to see?" He led me to where the car was parked.

I sighed and leaned further into his side, "I honestly don't even know what's playing…so you pick."

Edward laughed as he opened my door for me, "How about we pick once we get there then? Decide what we both want to see?"

Nodding I climbed in and watched him walk around to his side and start the car, "Sounds like a plan to me," and the rest of the ride to the theatre in Seattle was spent in comfortable silence.

He pulled into an empty parking spot, which didn't take long to find as the theatre didn't seem to be busy, and we both climbed out. Edward met me at the front of the car and immediately wrapped his arm around my waist as he pulled me along into the theatre and stopped, looking at the posters lined before us.

"Okay, what looks good to you?" he stood behind me with both arms wrapped around me and his head resting on my shoulder.

I looked from poster to poster seeing a couple of kids' cartoon movies, more than one horror scenes displayed, a title or two that just sounded stupid and I immediately turned to the next one, there was one for a comedy but it was the last poster that really caught my eye.

Leaning back to look at Edward, who had both arms wrapped around my waist and his head resting on my shoulder at this point, I saw that he wasn't even looking at the signs in front of us, instead he was staring at me, "What? Aren't you going to pick one?" He only grinned and shook his head, "Fine…the only one that I recognize is from a novel series that I used to read, _Cirque du Freak_, so my vote is for _The Vampire's Assistant_."

Edward laughed, "I had a feeling you would; didn't think you wanted to see a guy get tortured to death or be haunted by some demon."

"Why would _anyone_ want to watch something like that?" I pulled a face, which only caused him to laugh harder as he paid for both of our tickets and led the way towards the concession area.

We each got popcorn and a drink before walking down the hall through to the theatre where our movie was playing. Picking seats near the middle, we settled down just before the previews started to play.

Edward wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me closer to his side and sighed, "Finally, just the two of us," he craned his head around frantically before settling back down.

I pulled away slightly, "What are you doing?"

"Um…just making sure that no one decided to spring up behind us," he blushed.

I just laughed and snuggled back into his shoulder, blinking to let my eyes adjust as the lights dimmed and the movie started. He rested his head against mine and throughout the show he would lay a kiss on the side of my head but when I looked over at him his eyes would be fixated on the screen in front of us.

As the lights came back alight and the credits began to roll Edward stood and helped me up we gathered up our garbage before leaving the theatre.

We climbed into the car and he turned out of the parking lot onto the nearly empty road, "So, was it as good as the book?"

I shook my head, "It's never as good as the book," I blushed as a yawn cut off the end of my sentence.

He only laughed and draped a sweater from the back seat over me as we stopped at a red light, "Get some sleep, it's a little bit of a drive back to your place and you look exhausted."

I nodded and turned so my back was against the door and rested my head against the seat and so, facing Edward, I fell into a light sleep.

_**Author's Note: **Hey guys, I hope that was worth the wait. No need to fret I already have plans for the next chapter which'll pick up as soon as Edward pulls up to Bella's place...which I've already started to write as I'm typing up this. So let me know what you guys think and I **PROMISE** that the next chapter is already in the works and should be up by Saturday at the make up for the long wait I'm going to work on a special Christmas present for you all...not sure what it is yet but it should make up for leaving you guys hanging for so long like I did...though I believe I gave someone permission to hunt me down with sharp pointy objects if I've left you guys for so long...hopefully they've forgotten about that though :). _

_Love you all x.o.x.o._


	24. Chapter 24

_,Starting Anew_

_**Author's Note:** Hey guys...I know it's much longer than I said it would be (and I've decided to stop giving myself deadlines that I can't keep) but this time I do have reasons why it's taken so long, besides writer's block, which did actually play a small role in it, and lots of hours being put in at work. But now that everything's going smoothly again and it's pretty much back to normal I have more time to sit down by myself and do some writing. So here's the latest installment of Starting Anew. Again, if there's anything you don't understand or if you need background information about anything that comes up just let me know and I'll do what I can to get rid of the confusion. Anyways, enjoy and I'll see you all again next time.  
**Disclaimer:** Obviously I don't own anything and anything that you recognize from anywhere else is probably just a fluke. _

**Chapter 24: Who's Back?**

I was startled awake when the car jerked forward. Glancing around I saw Edward staring at something out the front of the car so I looked that way too and saw a cluster of the Quileute tribe standing in the middle of the road in front of my house facing us. Groaning I let my head slam back against the seat and felt Edward squeeze my hand before he pulled over to the side of the road and climbed out, going around to open the door on my side.

"Sorry about that, didn't see them right away and had to slam on the breaks," he helped me out and threw the sweater back into the back seat, "Are you alright?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Startled me is all," I glanced at the guys standing in a huddle and noticed my dad wasn't with them and it was only Sam, Paul, Jared and Harry, "I wonder what's going on."

Edward shook his head and followed as I made my way to the group.

"Hey," I wrapped my arms around Sam

Sam hugged back briefly before shoving me towards the house, grabbing Edward along the way and practically dragged him behind us, the rest of the guys trailing us, "Get inside the house, both of you!"

"Would someone _please_ tell me what's going on?" I looked from one to the other as they locked the door and Harry peeked anxiously out the front windows, "And where's my dad?"

"Well see, to that there's good news and there's bad news," Harry said, sitting down on the couch, "Good news is your mom's in town…however the bad news is that she helped break Phil out of the holding cell they had him in."

"What?" I couldn't feel my legs anymore and all I could see was the ground coming closer and closer until I felt arms wrap around my waist and legs, lifting me up and placing me on their lap on my dad's chair. I smiled gratefully at Edward over my shoulder before facing Harry again, "When? Where's my dad?"

"It happened a couple of hours ago and your dad is either at the station or on the streets looking for them, he wanted you to call him when you got home. I'm going to go join in the hunt and Sam and the guys are going to be staying with you until your dad gets home then they're going to take you both to the Cullens' that way you're not home alone if your dad gets called in the middle of the night," Harry rested his elbows on the coffee table, "We're not going to let anything get to you Bells."

I nodded and glanced up at Sam who was leaning against the back of the chair and glaring at the wall behind him, "Okay, thank you Harry," I got up to hug him and watched as he walked out the door.

"Alright kiddo…go upstairs, get changed into your pyjamas, pack a bag and get your school things ready for tomorrow that way you're ready to go to the Cullens as soon as your dad gets home," Sam straightened up and gestured towards the stairs.

I bit my lip and Sam rolled his eyes and pushed Edward up and, with a stern warning to him to stay out of the room when I was changing, Sam sent us both upstairs to my room.

We got up to my room and I immediately collapsed onto the bed, and Edward sat down beside me, "You alright?"

I shook my head, "I don't think so…why won't he just go away for good?"

Edward shrugged and pulled me into his side, "I don't know Bells, but I wish I did. You've got people all around you that are going to do everything they possibly can to be sure that he can't get within thirty feet of you; you just have to trust them. Now, get changed and I'll grab your school things for you."

I nodded and leaned up to kiss his cheek, "Thanks," getting up I searched for a comfortable pair of pyjamas and decided on just a navy blue and emerald green plaid pair of pyjamas and an emerald green t-shirt. Turning I saw that Edward was getting up, "No, no, no, you stay here. I'll take these to the bathroom; I also need to grab my toothbrush and hairbrush as well."

Edward nodded and, taking the clothes, I left the room…only to find Paul leaning against the wall, "What are you _doing_ out here?"

"Sam's orders," he smirked, "Just making sure everything is appropriate up here…well that and security. Now, go get changed Honey Bunch."

Rolling my eyes, I walked past him and through to the bathroom. Quickly slipping into the pyjamas and picking up the hairbrush that was sitting on the shelf above the toilet I slipped the hair tie off the end of it and brushed my hair back into a ponytail. Getting my toothbrush from the medicine cabinet, I put the dirty clothes in the hamper before crossing back out into my room, sticking my tongue out at Paul along the way.

Edward smiled and picked up the duffle bag that I had left lying on the floor near my bed, "Here, what else do you need?"

"Umm…just a change of clothes and my schoolbag for tomorrow," I moved over to the dresser again, only this time in search for an outfit for the next day. Just pulling out a plain black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, I threw them in the duffle bag along with socks, underwear, and deodorant. Turning I saw Edward holding my backpack, "Alright…I guess that's it then."

Edward just nodded and took the bag from me, "Let's get downstairs then," he guided me out the door, Paul wiggling his eyebrows as we passed before following us down the stairs.

We got to the living room when we reached the living room and Edward and I sat on the couch with Sam and Paul collapsed onto the floor by my feet, Jared was seated across the room on the chair.

Sam handed me the phone, "Call your dad; Harry's probably there with him now, but I know he'd want to hear your voice."

I dialled the number to his cell and heard him sigh as soon as he picked up, "Bells? Is that you?"

"Yeah dad, it's me," I leaned forward and rested my head on my knees, "Where are you?"

"Oh thank God, I thought for sure…never mind, I'm just up by the high school. Listen, I don't know when I'm going to be able to get home so if I'm not home in an hour call me and then get same to take you to Edward's. I've just finished talking to Carlisle so he knows what's going on," he paused, "Just do an old man a favour and stick close to someone until this whole thing's over, alright kiddo?"

I nodded, "Sure thing…I'm sorry –"

"Don't," he paused again, "None of this is your fault, none of it. Give the phone to Edward for a second Bells."

Sitting up, I handed Edward the phone before curling up into his side, relaxing when I felt his arm securely wrap itself around me. I felt the sofa dip down beside me and I looked up to see Sam sitting beside me.

"You holding up alright kiddo?" I shrugged as he leaned over to ruffle my hair and take the phone from Edward, then getting up to walk through to the kitchen.

I settled back against Edward and closed my eyes, covering my head with both hands. I jumped when I heard a chuckle from in front of me, opening my eyes I glared at Paul, "What's so funny?"

He laughed again and I could hear Jared trying not to as well, "What exactly are you doing?"

Blushing, I reached out my foot to kick him, "If I block it out it'll all just go away."

"Sorry Honey Bunch, I don't think it'll work that way," Paul pulled my foot and caused me to fall into his lap.

I shrugged and tried to get out of his grip, giving up when I realized it just wasn't possible, "Edward, help please?"

He rolled his eyes and leaned forward, "Stick out your hands," I did as I was told and Paul tried to turn us away. Edward grabbed my wrists and pulled me into his arms and up onto his lap, "Better?"

I nodded and curled into his embrace, "Much."

"Bells, your dad wants to talk to you again kiddo," Sam walked back into the room and handed the phone to me and cuffed Jared upside the head when he turned to see Jared mocking him behind his back.

"Hi dad," I sat up straighter, "Any luck yet?"

"Not yet…and it seems like it's going to take a while. I told Sam to take the two of you straight to the Cullens' and I'll call you there when I'm headed home. I love you Sweet Heart, and I promise that I'll have this taken care of for you."

"I love you too. Just be safe daddy, please?" I whispered, burying my face into Edward's chest, sighing as he ran his fingers through my hair.

"I promise Sweet Heart, love you," I heard a click before I slowly turned off my phone and dropped it onto the couch beside me.

"Are you two ready to go?" Sam dragged Jared up by the collar of his shirt and glared at Paul until he was standing too.

"Yeah," Standing up, I moved out of the way as Edward got up and then I immediately leaned into his side.

"C'mon then, I'll be driving your car with Paul and Jared following behind us," Sam picked up the knapsack and handed it to Edward, slinging the duffle over his own shoulder.

We all nodded and followed him out of the house, I made sure to lock the door as we left, and into the respective cars. Edward opened the back door to his car and helped me in before climbing in beside me and Sam got into the front seat and pulled away from the house. I closed my eyes and concentrated on feeling Edward's heart beat beneath my ear. Through my eyelids I could see flashes of red and blue from, what I imagined to be, the police cars surveying the area.

I felt the car ease to a stop before hearing a door open then slam shut again and another car pull in the driveway. I cracked open my eyes as Sam opened up my door, "Up and at 'em you two. I have to drop the two of you off, check in with Harry then get back to the Res."

"We're moving, we're moving," I groaned, sliding out of the car, hearing Edward doing the same beside me.

I followed Sam towards the Cullens' front door with Edward by my side, and I could hear Paul and Jared lumbering up behind us. Sam rapped on the door three times in quick succession then gestured for Edward to unlock the door.

"This way your dad knows it's us," he explained, smirking as he waited for us to go in, following right after.

Carlisle was just rounding the corner into the entryway when we walked in, "Everyone alright?" he grabbed both Edward and I into his arms before standing back to eye us both over.

"We're fine, dad," Edward reassured him, looking around, "Mom, Emmett and Alice still up?"

"Yes, they're in the living room, they insisted on waiting up for you, I think we're all going to be sleeping down here tonight if that's alright with everyone" he suggested, nodded at Sam, "Thanks for bringing them home. When you're checking in tonight remind them to keep in touch with us, let us know what's going on."

"She's my sister, of course I was going to help," Sam winked at me, "And will do doc, that's my next stop from here…Charlie should be with Harry so I'll let him know personally. If y'all need anything or need to get in touch with me Bella has my number," he shook hands with Carlisle and gave Edward a brief 'manly' hug before leaning down and hugging me, "I'll call you tomorrow morning kiddo, love you."

"Love you too," I whispered, wrapping my arms around him tighter, "Please be careful."

"Of course," Grinning he backed out of the house, Paul and Jared said their own goodbyes before following him out.

"Alright, leave the bags there and come on into the living room," he gave Edward a pointed look, "I think we've kept your mom waiting long enough."

Edward looked anxiously towards the living room doorway, "How much does she know?"

"Everything," Carlisle pulled me against his chest and I couldn't help the tears that began to flow at the fatherly gesture, "I know she panics and overreacts but she's still your mother and she needed to know what was going on. Plus Charlie thought it'd be best if she knew, "I felt him place a kiss on the top of my head then pull away, "Come on then you two."

We watched him walk away before Edward reached over to wipe away my tears, "Alice would freak if she saw even a hint of makeup run," he joked, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, "Alright now Bells?"

"Yeah," I hooked my finger into a belt loop at the back of his pants, "So…your mom overreacts huh?"

He laughed, "You'll see."

We went through to the living room and I saw Carlisle sitting beside Esme on the couch and it looked like he was holding her down, and Emmett was doing the same with Alice on the chair.

I blinked and Esme had broken free and made it across the room and pulled the two of us into her arms, sopping, "Oh, thank god, I thought for sure, when you didn't answer your phones –" she broke off, sobbing harder.

"Didn't answer…oh, we turned them off before the movie and must have forgotten to turn them back on again," Edward explained, putting his free arm around Esme, "We're both fine mom, I promise."

Esme pulled away and wiped her face, "Right, right, of course. Well, you two hungry?" She didn't give us a chance to answer as she walked to the kitchen with Carlisle going in behind her.

Emmet let Alice go and she flew across the room and latched herself onto Edward's neck, causing them both to tumble down to the floor and me to jump back. I turned back to the chair and saw Emmett sitting with his head in his hands.

I walked over and kneeled in front of him "Em you alright?"

"Yeah," he looked up and held his arms out like a child looking for a hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted me up onto his lap, "But I just wish that there was some way that I would have been able to prevent all of this for you…something I could have done."

I leaned my head on his shoulder, "Em, this whole thing started well before I came here…I'm just sorry that I got your brother caught up on the middle of it."

"Oh Bellsy," he leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Not only are you like a sister, I have a feeling that one day you will be a sister…so it wasn't only Edward I was worried about," leaning back he smirked at me, "It might just be the older brother in me that wishes I could have been there to help prevent this from happening to _you_."

Shakily I smiled through the tears that had welled up and kissed his cheek, "Thank you Emmett…and you're like a brother to me as well," something came to me, "Older brother? So you _are_ the older one between the two of you?"

Emmett laughed and stood up, me on his hip, "Of course, did you expect anything different?"

I shook my head, "I guess I hadn't actually thought about it."

"Yo man, you good?" Emmett slapped Edward on the back as he stood up beside Alice, causing him to nearly fall back down again.

"I _was_, now I've got a back problem starting to come up," Edward groaned standing back up, he looked towards the kitchen where we could hear pans being banged around, "She's really freaking out isn't she?"

"Oh yeah, it's worse than when you two snuck out in the middle of the night to go skinny dipping in the middle of the night a couple of years ago," Alice said, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a tissue she pulled from the pocket of her robe, then turned to pout at a blushing Edward who picked her up onto his own hip, so that we were roughly the same height, and reached over to hug me, "I'm glad you're okay Bella."

"Thanks," I turned to a beat red Edward and a beaming Emmett, "Skinny dipping?"

"In my defence I did it on a dare," Edward exclaimed, burying his face in Alice's hair and leading the way to the kitchen.

"And I did it because I didn't want him to have all the fun," Emmett put in, sitting down on a stool, putting me on his lap.

"Ah…the skinny dipping trip of two years ago I presume?" Carlisle asked, standing on the other side of the counter.

"Yup," Alice was sitting in her own stool, and I could tell that if the situation were any different that she would be bouncing in her seat, but as it were she was sitting nearly perfectly still.

Edward stood behind us, leaning on Emmett's back, "Make them stop dad, please?"

Carlisle just laughed and stepped out of the way as Esme bustled past, bringing three different trays to where we were sitting then abruptly turning and starting to mix something else in a large bowl. He stepped back and leaned across the counter, "It's her way of coping with stress," he whispered, keeping an eye out to make sure she couldn't hear him, "She bakes every pastry imaginable until she brings herself to exhaustion."

Emmett reached for a croissant, "Most delicious way I've ever seen."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow and Edward took that as his sign to smack his brother upside the head, "Thank you, son."

Edward nodded back and handed me a croissant, "I know you're not hungry but at least try to eat something…it'll help settle your stomach."

"Thanks," I started nibbling on the end and leaning my head against Emmett's shoulder.

"Now then…why don't you boys go get the air mattresses and blankets while I unfold the sofa?" Carlisle suggested, "We'll be right back ladies."

They both groaned as they followed their father out of the room and once Emmett had put me down on the stool I had a lap full of a sobbing Alice.

"Alice? What's wrong?" I wrapped my arms around her and she buried her head into my shoulder, "Calm down and breathe."

Esme walked around the counter and enveloped us both in a hug, tears streaming down her face, and I could feel a sting at the back of my eyes and a burning in my throat. Blinking rapidly, I tried desperately to fight off my own tears, but it was a useless battle because, before long, I could feel them running down my cheeks. I could hear the boys dropping off the mattresses in the living room before their footsteps retreated upstairs and Carlisle walked into the kitchen.

"What's wrong? Is somebody hurt?" he pulled us apart and looked each of us over, hugging all three of us when he realized we were all okay, "Don't do that to me…now what's going on?"

"Nothing dear, we're fine," Esme leaned up and kissed him softly, "But I think the girls and I are going to go upstairs and get ready for bed."

She walked away and Alice kissed her dad's cheek before chasing after her, leaving Carlisle and I alone in the kitchen.

_**Author's Note:** Okay, so not as long as I was going for...but I thought that not only did this seem like a good place to stop but also that I had made you guys wait long enough for an update. Thanks for sticking through for this long and I'll be sure to get the next update up as soon as absolutely possible. Love you all x.o.x.o._


	25. Chapter 25

_,Starting Anew_

_**Author's Note: **_I know, I know, it's been **months** and I know this chapter is too short to really make up for it, but I'll do everything in my power to be sure that such a gap doesn't happen again. Anyways, here's the next chapter, read and enjoy._**  
Disclaimer: **_Okay, if anyone thinks at this point then you seriously need to get that checked on.

**Chapter 25: Stop apologizing, it's fine **

"Okay Bella, once the boys come back down I'm sending them to go get ready for bed and Edward can help you bring your bag upstairs," Carlisle suggested, leading the way to the living room and sitting on the love seat, patting the spot beside him where I sat beside him, "Is there anything that you want to talk about?"

I shook my head, "No…just thank you for letting me stay here for tonight."

"Oh, Bella," he whispered, pulling me against his side, "We would do anything to protect our family…and it just so happens that you have become a part of the family. If you ever need anything or if you need to talk to someone don't hesitate to call me, alright Hun?"

I nodded and buried my face against his side, "Thank you, Carlisle."

"Think nothing of it Bella, just relax," he wrapped both arms around me and let me cry it out on his chest.

"What's wrong?" Edward's voices sounded from beside me, the seat dipping from where he sat down.

"Nothing," Carlisle placed me on Edward's lap and we watched as he walked out of the room, passing where Emmett was setting up the three air mattresses on the floor with blankets over each of them and throwing a quilt over the sofa bed as well, and he paused in the doorway, "I'm going upstairs to get ready for bed; I suggest you boys do the same. And Edward, bring Bella's bag upstairs to your room."

Edward nodded and helped me wipe off my face, "So…all this crying means that nothing's wrong?"

I laughed slightly and shrugged my shoulders, "I guess so…I don't even know how to feel anymore."

"Alright, I'm here when you need me," he brought us both to our feet, "C'mon, Alice may already be dressed for bed but she'll be finding some sort of 'beautifying' thing to do and if we're not down here when she's done she'll get pretty impatient."

Emmett nodded and visibly shuddered, "'Aint that the truth…let's get going then."

Edward grabbed my duffle bag and I picked up my knapsack before we followed Emmett up the stairs and went into Edward's room while Emmett went into the room across the hall. I sat on his bed as he dropped my bag beside me and went through his drawers to pull out a pair of solid blue pyjama bottoms and walked out to the bathroom at the end of the hall.

He came back and dropped off his dirty clothes in the hamper, "Get your toothbrush out…we'll brush our teeth before going back downstairs, you can keep your toothbrush in the bathroom so bring your phone with you; that way there's no reason to come back to the room before going back downstairs."

I nodded and got my toothbrush out from the top of my duffle bag before following him out of the room. We walked in silence to the bathroom, Edward handed me the toothpaste as he started brushing his own teeth, making faces at me in the mirror that caused me to laugh softly.

"There's the laugh," he spat in the sink and rinsed out his mouth, "I've missed your laugh."

I grinned and wrapped my free arm around his waist, "Thank you," I rinsed out my own mouth

"Your dad is going to be okay, Bells," Edward whispered, kissing me softly and placing our toothbrushes in the cup on the corner of the sink, "Ready to go back downstairs?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm ready," we walked down the hall, but I hesitated at the top of the stairs, causing Edward to stop and look back up at me from the step he was on.

"What's wrong? Do you want to go back up to my room?" he was already back up the stairs and standing beside me.

I laughed, "Edward, I'm fine. When my dad calls do you think it would it be my cell or your house?"

He ran his hands through his hair, "You, m'dear, are going to make me go grey way before my time," wrapping both arms around my waist he leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose, "I don't know what number he'd be calling. Why?" Realization dawned in his eyes, "Your cell is in my room isn't it?"

I could feel myself begin to blush, "Yeah, it's in the front compartment on my bag."

"Alright, wait here," I could hear him laughing as he turned into his room so, I sat down on the top stair, knowing that it'd probably take a minute for him to get his hysterical laughter under control.

Hearing footsteps, I looked up to see Emmett trudging over and flop down beside me, "Hiya Bellsy."

"Hi, Emmett," I leaned against the stairwell, "Alice already downstairs?"

He shrugged, "I suspect so, didn't see her walk out of her room and I don't hear any noise coming from inside so she's either downstairs or upstairs with my mom. So how are you holding up?"

I sighed, "I've been better, but I think I'm holding up alright I guess…more worried about my dad than anything."

Emmett scooped me into his arms and onto his lap, "I'm sure he'll be fine, Bellsy, he's been a cop for a while right?"

I nodded, "Yeah…for longer than I can remember."

"Then he'll be able to keep himself safe, and protect you as well. He'll be alright," Emmett let me rest my head against his shoulder.

I heard a rustling sound beside us and looked to the sight of Edward kneeling down beside Emmett, opening his arms to me and I willingly let myself be passed from one brother to the next, and I could hear him as he leaned to Emmett, "Thanks."

Emmett grinned and shrugged his shoulders, "Shall we go downstairs and see if the menace that is Alice has been downstairs yet?"

Edward nodded and stood the two of us up, with an arm wrapped firmly around my waist. We followed Emmett downstairs and saw only Carlisle sitting in the living room on the fold out sofa, with his head between his knees.

"Dad?" Edward cleared his throat.

Carlisle looked up, "You three ready? You mother and sister should be down soon, Alice went upstairs to talk to your mother about something."

"Are you alright dad?" Emmett sat down beside him and Edward and I sat on the middle air mattress in front of them.

"I'm fine, kids, just needed some time to think," he smirked and nudged Edward with his foot and rubbed Emmett's shoulder, "If you want you guys can pick out a movie, don't worry about keeping us old folks up, I think it's safe to say Esme and I aren't going to be getting much sleep tonight."

I bit my lip, "Sorry."

"Bella," he shook his head and scooped me off the floor as if I weighed nothing at all, "We've already gone over this, haven't we?"

Feeling myself blushing, I nodded, "Yes."

"Good, then I don't want to hear you apologizing for this again, understood?" he smiled when I agreed, and put me back down beside Edward, "Now, Emmett, get off," Carlisle shoved Emmett off of the couch and he landed unceremoniously on the air mattress closest to the front door.

"I guess, I'm here for the night then," Emmett grinned and proceeded to make himself comfortable just as Esme and Alice walked in.

"Bella!" Alice tried to jump onto me, but Edward grabbed her out of the air, then placed her down beside us, "Sorry," she pouted, before proceeding to curl into my side.

"Emmett, Edward, could I have a quick word please?" Carlisle asked, gesturing to the kitchen.

Emmett groaned, "But daaaaaad, I was comfortable," but, nonetheless, he got up and followed his father and twin out of the room.

"Did the four of you already pick out a movie?" Esme asked, running her fingers through mine and Alice's hair.

"No, Emmett got pushed off the couch before we could," I smiled slightly.

Alice squealed, "Can we watch Alice in Wonderland?"

Esme and I chuckled, "Of course we can, but then I think you kids should try and get _some_ sleep tonight."

"Oh no, we're watching Wonderland again, aren't we?" Edward groaned, sitting behind Alice as Emmett followed and sat behind me, each leaning against the sofa bed, and they both looked distracted but were hiding it well.

Carlisle laughed, "It's your own fault, I told you to pick a movie."

We curled up together as Carlisle put the DVD in and sat beside Esme.

There was only a couple of minutes left in the movie when there was a ringing sound echoing throughout the room. Edward jumped up and handing me my phone and leading me to the kitchen.

I could already feel the tears trailing down my cheeks, "Hello?"

"Bells?"

"Dad!" I breathed, and would have collapsed if Edward hadn't have caught me and lifted me up to sit on the counter, standing in between my legs and wrapping his arms around my waist, letting me lean against him.

"We've found Renee, Bells, she's not telling us where we can find Phil but I promise we'll get him," he sighed, "How're you, Sweetie?"

"I'm alright, you're safe though, right?" I had to ask, if I couldn't have him there with me then I would make sure that he was as okay as he could be, given the circumstances.

"Of course, we're just about to switch out so I'll be on my way home and go back out tomorrow," he said in a reassuring voice, instantly relaxing me.

I rested my head on Edward's shoulder, "Thank goodness, I love you daddy."

"I love you too sweetheart, so much. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay, g'night." I yawned, all of my energy drained out of me.

He chuckled, "Goodnight Bells."

I clicked my phone shut and Edward and I sat there in silence for a moment before he slowly helped me off the countertop, "That help you feel better?"

"Yeah, thank you so much for being here," I wiped away the last of my tears and reaching up to brush my lips against his, "I…I love you."

Edward stepped out of my reach and came around in front of me, cupping my face in his hands, "I love you too Isabella Swan, you're my world now," he leaned down and I could feel him getting closer and closer until our lips met in the fairytale 'fireworks' moment. He laughed when we pulled away and he could see my bright red cheeks, but took my hand and led me back to the living room, back to the air mattresses.

Emmett reached up and pulled me down in front of him, "C'mere Bellsy."

I smiled at Edward, who had his arms full of Alice, and snuggled further into Emmett's side and turning my attention back to the movie, and the Mad Hatter's Very Merry Unbirthday.

As the movie came to a close Esme leaned forward and placed a kiss on each of our foreheads, "You kids can stay up a bit later if you like but Carlisle and I are going to turn in. We're right here if any of you need anything."

Carlisle shoved both Emmett and Edward over with his feet and winked at Alice and I before settling himself under the blankets.

"Em, I'm calling it a night, how 'bout you?" Edward asked, lifting Alice slightly to put her on the air mattress to his right.

"Yup," he popped the 'p' and flopped over to where he had already messed up his blankets getting comfortable the first time.

Alice sighed, "I guess its lights out then," she pouted, "You two are such party poopers."

As I was lying down beside Edward I could've sworn I could hear a light chuckle from the sofa above us.

"Goodnight Love."

_**Author's note: **_Okay, hopefully that _kinda_ makes up for such a long wait.


End file.
